Personal efforts urged to reduce storm water run-off pollution
SEATTLE -- Another round of rain is on the way, and experts say it will bring a serious threat to local waterways.
Storm water run-off is one of our biggest sources of pollution. Time-lapse video of storm water run off into Elliott Bay captured the grime -- oil, metals and other pollutants that are swept into the waterways every time it rains.
Scuba diver and part-time environmentalist Laura James captured the video on Sunday following the first heavy rainfall of the season.
"I want to connect people to what's actually going on," she said.
Susan Stoltzfus with Seattle Public Utilities says everyone contributes to the pollution.
"Right now, storm water runoff is one of the biggest sources of pollution in our local waterways," she said.
The simple act of driving leaves behind oil, rubber, zinc, copper and other toxins. Pet waste is another big pollutant.
"There are bacteria in dog feces, especially, that are very harmful to aquatic life," said Stoltzfus. "They may not hurt people but they hurt the fish and the plants and the other animals that live in the waterways."
The effect is noticeable, says James, who regularly shoots video of marine life.
"Around the storm drain, which has outflow pretty regularly, you see much less life," she said.
After seeing videos, many people want to take action. They just don't know how.
James says it's as easy as thinking about one's daily life, and deciding to reduce use of plastic throughout the day.
"If every single one of us took one little action every day, I think we could make a difference," she said.
Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which made great strides in the past four decades to stop commercial pollution of waterways. Now the emphasis is on individual effort.
Storm water run-off is one of our biggest sources of pollution. Time-lapse video of storm water run off into Elliott Bay captured the grime -- oil, metals and other pollutants that are swept into the waterways every time it rains.
Scuba diver and part-time environmentalist Laura James captured the video on Sunday following the first heavy rainfall of the season.
"I want to connect people to what's actually going on," she said.
Susan Stoltzfus with Seattle Public Utilities says everyone contributes to the pollution.
"Right now, storm water runoff is one of the biggest sources of pollution in our local waterways," she said.
The simple act of driving leaves behind oil, rubber, zinc, copper and other toxins. Pet waste is another big pollutant.
"There are bacteria in dog feces, especially, that are very harmful to aquatic life," said Stoltzfus. "They may not hurt people but they hurt the fish and the plants and the other animals that live in the waterways."
The effect is noticeable, says James, who regularly shoots video of marine life.
"Around the storm drain, which has outflow pretty regularly, you see much less life," she said.
After seeing videos, many people want to take action. They just don't know how.
James says it's as easy as thinking about one's daily life, and deciding to reduce use of plastic throughout the day.
"If every single one of us took one little action every day, I think we could make a difference," she said.
Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which made great strides in the past four decades to stop commercial pollution of waterways. Now the emphasis is on individual effort.
oldster70
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The sky is not falling? How do you know?
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How many people were living here 20-30 years ago? Now we have more humans.
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This is a time lapse video of just one outfall pipe out of hundreds, and this video should at least make people stop and give reason to reflect for just a few seconds.
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So olster70 if you right and the sky is not falling, then we can all relax and not worry about ALL the animals in Puget Sound. But if you, just by some very slim chance, might happen to not know exactly what is going on with runoff, not know exactly what is going on with marine debris going into the Sound, not know exactly what all the chemicals there are that are in the runoff, well then, an awful lot might just be at stake here.
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But at least we all know that the bottom of Puget Sound is getting cleaner based on the amount of plastic debris found in the dead whales that wash up on the beach.
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Hummmm. You might be right after all oldster70!
The problem is people like my brother. He adds two quarts of oil to his pickup truck every morning. Leaks all over the place.
I can recall summer days where beaches were closed because of the floating sewage in the water.
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Even after all these years and the steps taken to improve the situation, still, it boils down to us? WE drop the oil on the ground? WE put our dog/cat residue in the storm drains? WE use pollutants on our lawns etc., that wreaks all this havoc? Well, from what I see on this video, it's not ALL our faults. Why is the drain emptying all those toxins at all? Why isn't there some kind of filtering system cleaning this runoff before it gets this far? Money? Is it Money or the lack of it? It's better to repave our city roads 6 times a year than to come up with a definitive plan for the proper handling of water runoff? The ancient Romans built roads that lasted centuries and we can't even build one that lasts a year without needing to be redone? You can bet, if all this junk was dumping into our drinking water they'd do something quick enough (I hope?). But because it's runoff, who cares? Is that it?
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My father said when he was a kid they camp near Lake Washington and toss their dinner plates out into the lake (frisbee style) and get them later. The water was so clear you could wade out a great distance and still see the bottom. It's never been like that in my lifetime. But as usual, we'll all sit here and complain because what else is there for us to do? We put people in places of power to make these decisions! So, when do we see some decisions? Tomorrow? Next Week? Ever?
 @Joy Johnson you ask a lot of questions!
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the ancient romans did not have 60-80,000 lb trucks rumbling over their roads every day. our roads take much more abuse.
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we have a grab-bag of storm runoff systems - some are combined with our sewage system, but this can become problematic when heavy rains overwhelm the system, which then overflows raw sewage into the Sound - Â so we also have a lot of storm drains which dump directly into streams and into the Sound. Â
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So there IS no good solution here and so when you say WE are responsible, you mean WE, THE PEOPLE, as in our collective government as well as our individual selves. Obviously, we cannot quit driving. We cannot run any more stormwater through our sewage system without the danger of causing more problems than we're fixing. we can set up special stormwater treatment plants, but that would cost an awful lot of money for something that is used only when it rains.Â
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i hope this answers some of your questions, but i am afraid i have no answers to the problem, either.
We have had a record dry spell. This means that there is much more oil etc deposited which has not been washed down incrementally. This makes it worse for a while until we again reach normal deposits between rain storms. I was diving before there was the sewage interception we take for granted today. I needed drops for my ears to prevent infection, and I do mean if I did not use them I would have had an ear infection period. Sometimes we got infections in our eyes as well. Fish taken from Lake Washington were not fit to eat. Anything I caught I tossed up to waiting Seagulls. Red tide was common in Puget Sound. There were raw sewer lines empting into all the lakes and the sound. Smaller lakes like Lake Sammamish also had only a fraction of the waterfront populated that it does now so they were not so bad. You kids today have no idea of what real pollution even looks like. (hint: It is round, brown, cylindrical, and smells like isht).
The sky is not really falling.
 @oldster70 hmmm, so what does "we kids today don't know anything about pollution solve?" It's because of past "shi**-y practices that we are in this situation at all. So by your arguement because it "isn't as bad as it used to be" we should back off?
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Why not be better? Its still a problem even though it isn't as bad as it was when you were a kid. More people to support now though then when you were a kid.
 @thirtysomethingnwnative The sky is not really falling
Why don't we all go back to living in caves. I'm sure that's what the enviros really want anyway.
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Good grief! Of course there's going to be runoff after the first heavy rain of the year. Is the world really coming to an end? Nobody INTENTIONALLY peels rubber off of their tires and sticks it down the storm drain!