Puget Sound Innovation Stories

Legislative Dist. 27
Don’t Drip and Drive

Don’t Drip and Drive

Helping drivers prevent pollution from drips and leaks Each year, vehicles driving around Puget Sound leak approximately 7 million quarts of vehicle fluids, including motor oil, fuel, lubricants and more into the Puget Sound watershed. Oil and other petroleum products...

Regional On-site Sewage System Loan Program

Regional On-site Sewage System Loan Program

Helping homeowners repair or replace failing on-site sewage systems The Regional On-site Sewage System Loan Program (RLP) in Washington State consolidates multiple county-level on-site sewage system loan programs into a single public-private partnership between the...

Tacoma stormwater system cleaning for legacy pollutants

Tacoma stormwater system cleaning for legacy pollutants

Erasing a legacy of pollution The Thea Foss Waterway in Commencement Bay includes three miles of nearshore habitat important for fish and wildlife. This area was contaminated by over a century of industrialization and was identified by the Environmental Protection...

12,000 Rain Gardens

12,000 Rain Gardens

Improving Puget Sound water quality one rain garden at a time! Rain gardens reduce polluted runoff into streams and Puget Sound by capturing and filtering stormwater runoff from roofs, driveways, roads, and other hard surfaces. Rain gardens are being installed all...

Washington Sea Grant Crab Team

Washington Sea Grant Crab Team

Engaging citizen science volunteers to protect the Salish Sea from invasive European Green Crab The European green crab is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as one of the world's 100 most damaging invasive species. European green...

Derelict Fishing Gear Program

Derelict Fishing Gear Program

Protecting marine animals from entanglement in lost fishing gear Commercial and recreational fishing is a way of life in Puget Sound where generations have enjoyed the bounty of the harvest and the thrill of the catch. Lost fishing gear such as gillnets and crab pots...

Titlow Park Shoreline Restoration Project

Titlow Park Shoreline Restoration Project

The Titlow Park Shoreline Restoration Project is working closely with Tacoma Metro Parks to successfully remove a derelict bulkhead, seawall, and defunct home near an important bait fish beach in Puget Sound. The second phase of the project will undertake restoration...

Salish Sea Marine Survival

Salish Sea Marine Survival

Endangered Species Act listed Puget Sound Chinook salmon populations have plummeted by 50% since the mid-80s and steelhead have experienced even steeper declines. Research points to marine survival as the missing link to recovery. The Salish Sea Marine Survival...

Chambers Bay & San Juan Islands

Chambers Bay & San Juan Islands

Chambers Bay was the site of the 2015 United States Golf Association U.S. Open tournament. Hood Canal is home to the deepest part of Puget Sound. Both are beautiful places—but herring don't care about the scenery. They come to spawn. These sites, along with...

Washington’s Local Source Control Partnership

Washington’s Local Source Control Partnership

Washington's Local Source Control Partnership offers small businesses in 19 Puget Sound communities free, hands-on pollution prevention assistance, such as spill prevention, proper chemical management, and other resources. Many pollution prevention programs focus on...

Floodplains By Design

Floodplains By Design

Floodplains by Design began with $500,000 in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funding in 2012, and since then Floodplains by Design has invested more than $80 million in Puget Sound floodplain projects. This collaborative effort has brought local and tribal...