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.