Edgewood joins fight to save Puget Sound

FILE PHOTO

THE CITY OF EDGEWOOD HAS JOINED THE PUGET SOUND STARTS HERE CAMPAIGN. In the past, the city has held free rain garden workshops to educate and inform the public about stormwater management.

The city of Edgewood is one of hundreds of agencies and organizations to support a new effort to preserve and protect the water sources feeding Puget Sound.

The campaign, Puget Sound Starts Here, was launched on Sept. 17 with a goal to educate the public about how changes in their everyday actions can help save the sound.  

According to organizers, this campaign is the largest in history to save Puget Sound.

“Edgewood got involved because we were part of the Puget Sound Council of Governments and a few other Puget Sound partnerships,” Mike Caldwell, Edgewood interim city manager, said.

The campaign will target four things that create the bulk of this pollution, which are car wash run-off, automobile oil leaks, overuse of pesticides and pet waste. Approximately 140,000 pounds of toxic chemicals enter the sound each day, according to the coalition’s statement. Washington’s Department of Ecology estimates that 75 percent of the 140,000 pounds of toxic are carried by stormwater runoff. Pierce County stormwater management officials already had several educational programs and campaigns that will coincide with Puget Sound Starts Here efforts.

“We’re trying to help change social behaviors with our involvement in this program,” Teresa Lewis, education and outreach coordinator for Pierce County Public Works and Utilities, said.

The county has also been actively involved with assisting in the start up of the Puget Sound Starts Here campaign and its website. Officials have also been involved with Stormwater Outreach for Regional Municipalities (STORM), a multi-city stormwater management partnership, for the last two years, Lewis added.

The stormwater management division, to which Lewis is primarily involved, has had an ongoing established educational division. One of the most recent programs is the fish-friendly car wash kit, which residents can borrow from the county to prevent soap and other chemicals from washing down storm drains and into streams and rivers. Lewis mentioned a recent community survey conducted by the county and local municipalities, including Edgewood, which concluded that approximately 50 percent of residents did not know water washed down storm drains is untreated before it reaches water sources. It is this lack of public knowledge that drives the Puget Sound Starts Here campaign and others like it.

“This program intends to increase the level of action taken by residents. We started with these four target areas because we felt they would be the easiest behaviors to modify and because we have the solid facts behind the statistics. This is really just the start of actions we’re gonna encourage.”

 Edgewood officials have incorporated a strong public outreach and education component in the city’s most recent stormwater management program, adopted last March. According to the city’s program, the goal of this component will be to “reduce or eliminate behaviors and practices that cause or contribute to adverse stormwater impacts.” Edgewood’s stormwater program targets behaviors similar to the Puget Sound Starts Here campaign that reduce stormwater pollution, such as low-impact yard and vehicle care and pet waste sanitation. Ultimately, the city hopes this new cam-paign partnership will increase public knowledge about stormwater protection, Caldwell explained.

“We just want people to know about practices like dumping oil down drains,” Caldwell said. “We just try our best to educate the public that every little bit helps.”

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