Fecal Matters: No Contact Advisory for Cummings Park and Les Davis Pier on Ruston Way, Tacoma, WA

BEACH Program Update

On May 24, 2013, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department issued a no contact advisory for Cummings Park and Les Davis Pier on Ruston Way in Tacoma, WA. The closure was issued due to high fecal bacteria counts in the water. The public is warned not to make contact with the water until further notice. The Health Department will continue to collect water samples weekly and is investigating the pollution source.

Contact with fecal contaminated waters can result in gastroenteritis, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections and other illnesses. Children and the elderly may be more vulnerable to waterborne illnesses.

Stay updated about water quality at your beaches by keeping up with us on our blog Fecal Matters, on Facebook, or join our listserv.

Christopher Clinton is the interim BEACH Program Manager and is available at 360-407-6154 or christopher.clinton@ecy.wa.gov for questions.

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Power-outage will affect Ecology online applications (May 31 - June 2)

Ecology Notification

Maintenance work is planned for the Ecology building in Lacey, beginning Friday, May 31st at 5:00 PM through Sunday, June 2nd. During this time, the power will be turned off to our data center, temporarily shutting down many of Ecology's online applications.

Applications that will not be available include:

• Areawide Remediation Environmental Information System (AREIS)
• Children's Safe Product Act (CSPA) Reports
• Cleanup Site Search
• Cleanup Levels and Risk Calculations (CLARC)
• Coastal Atlas
• Columbia River Water Resources Explorer
• Environmental Permit Handbook
• Facility/Site Identification (F/SID) System
• Fertilizer Database (Wastes in Commercial Fertilizers)
• Grade Level Expectations (GLE) Correlations to Environmental Education Resources
• Hazardous Waste Services Directory
• Industrial Permits
• Integrated Site Information System (ISIS)
• Laboratory Accreditation
• Polluted Waters - 303(d) Listing
• Public Events Calendar
• Publications and Forms
• Recycling (1-800-RECYCLE)
• Shoreline Aerial Photos
• Smelter Search
• Solid Waste Information Clearinghouse
• Staff directory annd subject referral look up tools
• Thermal stream surveys
• Water Quality Permit Databases
• Water Resources Explorer
• Well Construction and Licensing System (WCLS)
• Well Logs look-up

While the applications are down, you will see this server error instead of getting access to the tool. For more information about these online applications, see Ecology's Databases.

The Ecology website will not be affected.

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Around the Sound: Work underway at the K Ply cleanup site

By Connie Groven, Site Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Here the K Ply smokestack is being covered so that asbestos can be scraped from the surfaces the port could reach. January 29, 3013

The past few weeks have seen a lot of activity at the K Ply cleanup site (also known as PenPly or Peninsula Plywood). You can see pictures of the April 9 smokestack demolition here and the whole demolition process here.

The Port of Port Angeles is nearly finished tearing down former mill structures, except for the concrete floor slabs. Interim action fact sheet.

Why is the smokestack rubble contaminated with dioxins?

Before toppling the smokestack, the port removed asbestos from the outside of the smokestack (see photo to the right). They also removed residues from other parts of the smokestack that they could reach.

However, over the years, more ash than expected got trapped inside the walls of the smokestack. The port was able to reach the ash after the smokestack was on the ground.

The port sampled the residues inside of the smokestack walls after toppling it. They also sampled the ash trapped between the walls and inside the liners in the lower part of the stack (see diagram to the right). This confirmed that the ash was contaminated with higher levels of dioxin than expected.

What is happening to the smokestack rubble?

Because of the dioxins in the residues on the concrete and bricks, the port removed the smokestack rubble with the ash. They have taken the debris to a landfill in Roosevelt, WA that can accept this type of waste.

The port also looked at cleaning the ash off the smokestack rubble. This would have allowed them to send the ash to a special landfill and recycle the rubble on the site. However, they found that ash had contaminated too much of the rubble and the cleaning process would be very difficult, so this was not be feasible.

How will the port investigate site contamination?

The port is taking soil samples from the property to confirm areas that need to be stabilized or covered while they finish investigating the site. You can read more about plans for sampling and stabilizing the site in the interim action work plan and the responsiveness summary.

The port is also developing a plan to finish investigating the type and extent of contamination on the site. This sampling will start in the summer. Then they will develop a remedial investigation and feasibility study report, and a draft cleanup action plan.

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See "Eyes Over Puget Sound" for May 20

By Sandy Howard, communications manager, Environmental Assessment Program

It’s just a click away — Eyes Over Puget Sound for May 20.

Phytoplankton blooms are notable, with extensive harmless, red-orange Noctiluca blooms showing up early following a period of high freshwater inputs and milder weather conditions.

As you can see in our cover photo, the Fraser River sediment influence is strong north of the San Juan Islands. We are having warm, fresh water entering Central Puget Sound from Whidbey Basin.

In the past few weeks river flows and air temperatures have been higher than normal and are now decreasing.

"Eyes Over Puget Sound” combines high-resolution photo observations with satellite images, en route ferry data between Seattle and Victoria BC, and measurements from our moored instruments.

Sign up to receive email notifications about the latest “Eyes Over Puget Sound” by subscribing to Ecology’s email listserv here.

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Voices For The Yakima Basin: "The Future We Want"

By Tim Hill, Office of Columbia River

We asked Michael Garrity of American Rivers and Trout Unlimited's Lisa Pelly to share their thoughts about the Yakima Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan (YBIP). Here's what they had to say:

The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan is a big deal. For farmers and river flows, certainly, ensuring water reliability as the climate warms and snowpack shrinks and as what’s left of it melts off sooner. For fish, definitely, bringing back what may be the largest sockeye run outside of Canada and Alaska. And for families, without a doubt, the wild places that we love so well will be enjoyed and protected by future generations.

Both of us have explored, hiked, camped, bird watched, rafted and fished the rivers and streams of the upper Yakima basin for most of our lives. We’ve also put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the negotiations that will, we hope, bring the YBIP to fruition. So today, as the prospects for an initial round of funding look good, what really gets us excited is imaging the upper Yakima Basin ten years from today, when the plan is well underway.

In the beautiful Cooper and Waptus river watersheds, we have spent hours watching sockeye salmon spawning for the first time in nearly a century. With permanent fish passage constructed at the Cle Elum dam, we’ll be seeing a lot more of them making their way back to high valleys of the north central Cascades.  We’ll also see happier, fatter trout in those rivers, and both of us are looking forward to hooking them on a fly. And its not just a fish story – salmon will serve as food for other fish and wildlife.  Spawning salmon will help trees and forests grow stronger, taller and older as the fish bring fresh nutrients up river again. 

Then there’s the crown jewel – the Teanaway Valley – the largest single public land acquisition in 45 years in Washington, that the YBIP will make possible. Wolves and wolverines have already returned, but the restoration of a robust salmon run and restored meadows and floodplains will create a wilder ecosystem there than has been seen in decades, if not a century. Instead of worrying about future development there, we’ll be able to camp, hike and fish to our hearts’ content.  

The YBIP’s benefits are profound, and will stretch from the Cascades to the Columbia – we’ve only mentioned a few here, focusing just on the upper Yakima. We both feel very blessed to be part of helping to shape a more sustainable Yakima Basin in the coming years, and are looking forward to many more adventures up and down its rivers and streams.

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Michael Garrity is the Washington State Conservation Director for American Rivers. Lisa Pelly is the Director of the Washington Water Project for Trout Unlimited.

In future posts, we'll ask farmers, municipal water managers, and members of the Yakama Nation to share their thoughts about the Integrated Plan.

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Around the Sound: Fresh start for 'Puget Sound Starts Here'

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

The “Puget Sound Starts Here” education campaign has a fresh look.

“Puget Sound Starts Here” is an effort by a partnership of cities, counties, state and federal agencies, nonprofit groups, and local organizations that focuses on improving waters and aquatic habitat in the Puget Sound region.

The Puget Sound Partnership has updated the campaign’s website (and provided the photo at left of the Deception Pass area on Whidbey Island).

Check out the campaign and take an opportunity to learn how can you help clean up and protect the Sound and its surrounding waters.

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Air Time: Wildfires heat up, bring toxic smoke

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Wildfires are burning already in several locations in Washington, just months after the nation watched as fires consumed vast tracts of central and eastern Washington, overwhelming local communities with hazardous, choking smoke.It was a stark, brutal lesson about the destructive power of wildfires. The air quality in some central Washington communities was so unhealthy for so long that many residents were compelled to evacuate their homes just so they could find clean air to breathe.

The photo on the right from the Daily Record in Ellensburg gives just a snapshot of what happened last summer and fall.

The current fires are a potential reminder of that – and a possible harbinger of the wildfire season ahead, which began this year in Washington on April 15, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

This week (May 5-11) is Wildfire Awareness Week. You can learn more wildfire awareness and activities, resources and learning opportunities in local communities by checking out this DNR news release.

All wildfires have the potential to unleash large amounts of unhealthy smoke. Here are wildfire-related questions and answers that the Washington Department of Health, Ecology and other state and federal agencies developed during last year’s devastating wildfires.

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