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12/03/2007: "Toxic Chemicals of Concern & Stormwater"

(DOE Map from cited report)

A report from DOE (Department of Ecology) on toxic chemicals in the Puget Sound has just been published, and it indicates "’surface-water runoff’ from land is generally the largest contributor.”

The report is entitled “Control of Toxic Chemicals in the Puget Sound”. The report is a preliminary attempt to estimate the amounts of toxic chemicals, and the source of them.

Two things stand out in the report in regard to San Juan County. One, we appear to have the lowest (as in 0.00) presence of toxic chemicals, and two, it is not stormwater from development in rural areas of the county that is contributing to the problem.

The study found that “undeveloped areas (forest/field and agricultural land uses) contributed most (about 60 to 70 percent or more of the median loading) of the “chemicals of concern”. This would seem to be at odds with some of the arguments that it is all developed property in San Juan County that is contributing the most to pollution of stormwater.




The report is not focused on stormwater runoff solutions to recognized negative impacts of stormwater, but rather to what role stormwater plays in collecting and transporting chemicals to the Puget Sound. However the report does give some evidence that perhaps San Juan County is looking at the wrong sector of the community as the source of potential problems.

But then, what about those chemicals of concern and San Juan County, do we have a problem that needs to be addressed? The report does not state if we do or not, it simply indicates that whatever the source for the chemicals found in Puget Sound, they are not showing up in San Juan County.

According to the report, Surface-water runoff “includes stormwater, groundwater that discharges into rivers and streams, and many different hard-to-trace sources of pollution from the land with no obvious points of discharge.”

"This report makes it clear there is much more to learn, and these preliminary findings are not surprising," said Josh Baldi, who is Ecology Director Jay Manning's special assistant for Puget Sound.

The report can be accessed and downloaded from the DOE site at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/pstoxics/index.html