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Lasting Legacies
 

During Orca Month in 2023, through stories and videos, we'll honor the Lasting Legacies of the Southern Resident orcas and celebrate the legacy of the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

Coming soon!

 

Rosemary Connelli

Entering into our third week of Orca Month, today we will be focusing on the impacts of toxic contaminants on the Southern Resident orca community. To help highlight and bring attention to this important topic, Orca Month's Designer Rosemary Connelli collaborated with Fred DeNisco of The Orca Man to share a brief background on toxic contaminants and the negative impacts they have posed on orcas. Watch the video below to learn more:





Toxic contaminants have been shown to affect orcas, and even us, throughout our lifetimes. In order to help alleviate these dangerous contaminants in our environments, there are actions we can take today to help mitigate how much they affect us both:


  • Add a rain garden in your yard to reduce stormwater drainage

  • Wash your car at a car wash, or on a lawn instead of the street

  • Make sure you maintain your car (no leaks)

  • Go pesticide-free

  • Volunteer for cleanups on the water and along the shoreline

  • Reduce tire chemicals on the road by taking public transit

  • Write to your representatives to ban harmful chemicals 

  • Dispose of old boats

  • Report abandoned boats


Head to our Take Action page to take action, and to our Events page to find a list of events near you to help clean our waters for healthier futures! Be sure to also follow The Orca Man to learn more about orcas and where to watch orcas from land in the Pacific Northwest!


Sources:

  • James, C. A., Sofield, R., Faber, M., Wark, D., Simmons, A., Harding, L., O'Neill, S. (2014). The screening and prioritization of contaminants of emerging concern in the marine environment based on multiple biological response measures. Environmental Pollution, 193, 254-262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.06.019

  • Wasser, S. K., Lundin, J. I., Ayres, K., Seely, E., Giles, D., Balcomb, K., Hempelmann, J., Parsons, K., Booth, R. (2017). Population growth is limited by nutritional impacts on pregnancy success in endangered Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca). PLOS ONE, 12(6), e0179824. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179824

  • Raverty, S., St. Leger, J., Noren, D. P., Huntington, K. B., Rotstein, D. S., Gulland, F. M. D., Ford, J. K. B., Hanson, M. B. (2020). Pathology findings and correlation with body condition index in stranded killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northeastern Pacific and Hawaii from 2004 to 2013. PLOS ONE, 15(11), e0242505. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242505

  • Wildlife Defenders Article: https://defenders.org/blog/2024/04/clean-water-healthy-futures-why-saving-orcas-means-saving-us

Emily Gonzalez

Polluted stormwater runoff is the top source of toxic pollution to Puget Sound and its surrounding waterways.


Read the full story below, written by Puget Soundkeeper’s Staff Attorney and Director of Law & Policy Emily Gonzalez.


Photo: Stormwater drains. Courtesy Puget Soundkeeper.


Polluted stormwater runoff is the top source of toxic pollution to Puget Sound and its surrounding waterways.


Stormwater includes rain and snowmelt that runs over rooftops, paved streets, highways, parking lots, and other hard surfaces. It collects toxic chemicals, debris and more, carrying pollution directly into our waterways. Most stormwater is not treated, even when it goes into a street drain. It flows downstream directly into streams, lakes, and marine waters.


The Clean Water Act is a set of federal laws regulating stormwater through a permit system. Puget Soundkeeper enforces the Clean Water Act by advocating for improved regulations and permits, better design and planning priorities, and up-to-date coverage for all sources of stormwater pollution.


Municipalities (cities and counties) and industrial facilities are issued permits with pollution monitoring, prevention, mitigation, and treatment requirements. Puget Soundkeeper pursues Clean Water Act litigation by bringing polluters into compliance with the law and their permit requirements, and representing the rights of our community to access swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.


This year, Soundkeeper is addressing updates to the Municipal and Industrial Stormwater General Permits, continuing our decades-long work to control and treat toxic stormwater. Our goal is to stop pollution before it reaches Puget Sound.


Photo: Stormwater drains. Courtesy Puget Soundkeeper.


Stormwater Successes:

Examples of Puget Soundkeeper’s work to improve stormwater permits include:

• Preventing new pollution discharges to impaired waterways

• The invalidation of certain forms of industry self-regulation

• More stringent limits on turbidity and total suspended solids

• Improved pH monitoring

• Increased transparency and public participation in the permitting process

• Utilization of Low Impact Development to treat and control stormwater

• Highway retrofits to increase stormwater controls


Examples of successful Clean Water Act lawsuits include:

2011: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) implements numerous stormwater control measures at its Seattle-based Balmer Yard facility. In addition to addressing pollution and doing what was required to comply with its permits, BNSF pays a record-high (at the time) environmental benefit settlement. This payment initiates the Puget Sound Restoration Fund at the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment.


2015: SSA Terminals is required to install stormwater treatment systems at their 200-acre Terminal 18 container facility at the Port of Seattle on Harbor Island—one of the largest such facilities in the world.


2016: Louis Dreyfus grain terminal must make significant upgrades to prevent grain spillage from its conveyor loading system. It is also required to infiltrate land-based industrial stormwater rather than discharging it into Elliott Bay.


 2019: Soundkeeper sends a 60-day notice to Pacific Coast Coal Company for stormwater pollution violations at the John Henry Number 1 Coal Mine, a coal surface mining operation that has been closed since 1999. Soundkeeper’s Clean Water Act litigation permanently closes the mine in 2021.

Abby Dalke

Algae are found in virtually every marine and freshwater system on the planet. They range from single-cell, microscopic organisms to leafy seaweeds. Like other kinds of algae, cyanobacteria occur naturally in freshwater environments and are vital to the function of aquatic ecosystems. However, excessive growth of this single-cell organism can lead to “blooms” that may cause serious harm to freshwater habitats and human and animal health. 


Read the full story below, written by Save Our Wild Salmon’s Outreach Coordinator Abby Dalke.


Photo by: LightHawk / Dr. Judy Parrish


Algae are found in virtually every marine and freshwater system on the planet. They range from single-cell, microscopic organisms to leafy seaweeds. Like other kinds of algae, cyanobacteria occur naturally in freshwater environments and are vital to the function of aquatic ecosystems. However, excessive growth of this single-cell organism can lead to “blooms” that may cause serious harm to freshwater habitats and human and animal health. 


Bloom-forming cyanobacteria is called Microcystis – a toxin that affects the liver and is responsible for the most human and animal poisonings. Direct exposure to water containing Microsystis can lead to headache, sore throat, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and pneumonia, tumor development, liver failure, decreased sperm count and motility, and possibly cancer.  


What conditions lead to toxic algal blooms? Warm, slow-moving water and excessive nutrients via runoff. This is certainly the case on the lower Snake River in eastern Washington, where four dams create a series of reservoirs that regularly exceed water temperature standards established to protect migrating salmon and steelhead. 


In late summer 2023, a massive harmful algal bloom covered at least 30 miles of the lower Snake River. To prevent annual ever worsening toxic algal blooms fueled by climate change, the root causes must be addressed. For the lower Snake River, it means removing four dams and restoring a cold, clean, free-flowing river. 


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