Earth Pass It On: What this city girl has learned about keeping the water clean

by Sandy Howard, communications manager, Water Quality Program

I was born in Tacoma, but I grew up in south King County on the rim of the Green River Valley.

Our home’s picture window had a view directly to the west. We could watch the planes landing and taking off from Sea-Tac Airport, day and night.

My family did a lot of car camping and scouting, so I got a lot of exposure to the outdoors. I took for granted the nearby pristine waters of Saltwater State Park, the cold and swift running waters of the Green River at Flaming Geyser Park, the satiny surface of Lake Meridian on opening day of trout season.

I have memories of whirling round and round on the beach with a whip made of sea lettuce. Throwing rocks, and wading into Puget Sound peering into the shallow water to see crabs and tiny fish.

And of my brother throwing my favorite piece of driftwood out the car window – just to spite me! 

Remarkably, and not really intentionally, I wound up with a fascinating career with the Department of Ecology. It’s amazing all of the things I’ve learned since I’ve been here. And it’s stuff I never knew before. 

I'm sitting next to my Dad, my brothers and some of their
friends along Point Defiance a long time ago. 

Almost everything we do on the land has a downstream effect.

For example, I don’t have a lawn or a garden, but I have a giant driveway. And I have a big roof.

I have learned that if I keep them clean, they don’t grow a lot of moss. I don’t need to use a lot of moss killer. When it rains, that’s less moss killer washing downstream and getting into Olympia’s Percival Cove.

I have learned that if I have four quarters, maybe six if I’m feeling rich, I can get my car really clean at the auto mall car wash. That way I don’t make soapy water that goes down the storm drain. Did you know the soapy water acts like a fertilizer?  It contains phosphorous that triggers algae blooms, which are an increasing problem in our lakes, rivers and Puget Sound.

And this next one is kind of a quirky one, but it’s true. 

Did you know that if your community is having a sewer spill – which usually means a sewer line is broken and raw sewage is spilling into the ground or into the water – the best thing you can do is to limit your use of water? Less water going down your drain means less of a spill.

Another one is that I check my car to make sure it’s not leaking oil. I drive a hybrid, but I’m hoping my next car will be an all-electric one. Maybe a Tesla? 

In my long career, I’ve had a chance to help educate people about water quality.

Mom, my brothers and me looking like tourists somewhere 

along Puget Sound back in the day. 

Some of the most gratifying work has been to help educate people about toxic algae blooms. Almost every year, somebody’s dog drinks from a lake that is having a bloom and gets sick or dies. So here’s my advice -- if you see green algae or scum in the water, stay away from it. Keep your pets and children out of it.  

Our lakes, rivers and Puget Sound are special and irreplaceable. It has taken decades for pollution problems to crop up, and it will take decades for us to get them clean again. I thank cities, counties and industries who are doing their part for clean water. You and I can do some things, too. Our small steps together will get us there. 

Me today.

Learn more about what you can do to keep the water clean by visiting Washington Waters – Ours to Protect. 

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) Watch for additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.

Do the Earth a favor – clean up and prevent pollution

By Seth Preston, communications manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Earth Day is fast approaching, so let’s talk about Washington‘s dirty little secret.

Well, maybe it’s not exactly a “secret.” And it sure isn’t “little.” But chances are most of the state’s residents don’t realize Washington is literally littered with polluted properties.

Specifically, 12,359 toxic sites. And those are just the ones we know about right now. More are reported to us each year, even as others are cleaned up. So far, just over half of them are considered to be “cleaned up.” But there is still a long way to go.

Environment, Economy, Community

The state’s basic stance is “the polluter pays.” But that’s not always possible – the current landowner may not have caused the pollution and doesn’t have the money to pay for cleanup.

The bottom line is that someone has to clean up the pollution. Allowing it to languish poses risks to people who could be exposed to it, impacts the environment and wildlife, and stalls potential redevelopment that could benefit local communities.

This old polluted site in Tacoma ...

Cleanup is all about “environment, economy, community” – cleaning up contamination provides short-term and potential long-term economic benefits while protecting the health of people and the environment. That all adds up to an improved quality of life for communities.

A healthy economy also can contribute to cleanup – developers or local governments see a potential return on a piece of property they own or buy, so cleaning it up pencils out for them in the long run.

... is now home to the famed Museum of Glass.

Cleanup, prevention go hand in hand

But cleanup isn’t cheap, and it doesn’t happen quickly. Cleanup isn’t simply a matter of digging up contaminated dirt on land or dredging contaminated muck out of the water. A lot of engineering, science and legal steps are needed to get to the actual cleanup work, and those steps can take years. Total cleanup costs could add up to tens of millions of dollars for just one site.

Cleanup is worth the investment. But so is prevention – and prevention is generally cheaper and simpler than cleanup.

Prevention means reducing the toxics used in manufacturing, finding safer substitutes for chemicals in products, and stopping toxics before they escape into the environment.

For example, Ecology is working with brake manufacturers to phase out the use of copper in the brake pads used on cars and trucks. Cutting copper won’t affect the brakes’ cost or performance. But it will reduce the amount of copper pollution reaching our rivers, lakes and Puget Sound, where it is toxic to salmon and other species.

Cleanup and prevention go hand in hand – cleanup without prevention means sites will face recontamination issues, and maybe repeated, expensive cleanups. And prevention without cleanup means that decades-old pollution remains in place, threatening the health of Washington’s people and environment.

How you can help

Here are a few ideas for how you can get involved in cleanup and prevention issues:

• Check these helpful tips for limiting toxics in your home.
• Follow these healthy actions to keep your family safe from contaminated soil.
• Sign up for email lists so you can find out about toxic sites in your community.
• Search for contaminated sites in your community.

And watch this blog for news about a new tool that will help you track contaminated sites in your neighborhood.

For more information

Want more details? Check Ecology’s websites for our Toxics Cleanup and Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction programs.

Water: Is there enough for people, farms and fish?

By Brook Beeler, communications

Although 70 percent of the planet is water only one percent of that is accessible for drinking. Globally, one in six people don’t have access to clean water sources, according to the United Nations.

In Washington we are fortunate to have access to clean, fresh water. We at the Washington Department of Ecology are responsible for managing a water supply for more than 7 million Washingtonians. To meet all our water needs. That supply comes from precipitation and snowpack, groundwater and more than 70,000 miles of rivers and streams.

We’re committed to meeting the state’s water needs now and ensuring water is available in the future for people, farms and fish. That takes careful, thoughtful management.

Water in Washington belongs to all of us. But that doesn’t mean that just anyone can dig a well or divert water from a stream for use. Water rights or certificates are required for business, industry, farming – even domestic use. They define where, how and how much water may be put to use.

Washington law also requires that Ecology honor those water users who came first, which presents a real challenge when trying to manage water for future growth.

What if all the water is spoken for or claimed?

How do we ensure there is enough available for all needs, including the environment?

We can’t “manufacture” new water. We can only protect what we’ve got, use it more wisely and find ways to share it across the “boundaries” of seemingly competing interests – domestic drinking water, environmental protection and agriculture and industry.

Water management

There are a few tools in the water resource management tool box.

Across the state we are exploring technical solutions for making water available to cities for future growth, seeking new storage, releasing water from dams when fish need it most and enhancing fish passage. In central Washington our Office of Columbia River has even delivered water to farmers in the Odessa where aquifers are declining.

Water banking makes water available for new uses including increasing stream flows to protect habitat and providing water for development. Water rights can be traded between willing buyers and sellers to achieve the goal of moving water to where it’s needed most.

Reclaimed water is an important component of wise water management and part of our strategy to extend our water resources. Reclaiming or recycling water from some other process like wastewater treatment gives water a new life in new uses.

Reclaimed water is typically used for irrigation and other non-drinking water purposes.

You can make a difference too

Individually we can all do our part to help ensure reliable water supplies. Water efficiency is the smart use of water through water-saving technologies and small actions we can take around the house.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, American households waste 1.25 trillion gallons of water each year! Water is wasted through inefficient or leaky fixtures and improper outdoor water use.

It’s easier than you think to be water smart. EPA’s WaterSense program offers tips and tricks and even a labeling program that identifies high-efficiency products or services that help you reduce water use.

It can be as easy as:

• Fixing a leak! Household leaks waste 10,000 gallons each year. That’s like doing 270 extra loads of laundry.
• Showering better. Choose a WaterSense labeled shower head and save an estimated $70 in energy and water costs each year.
• Sprucing up your sprinklers. Timing is everything! Don’t set it and forget it, when watering with an irrigation system you can waste up to 50% more water. Make seasonal adjustments to avoid waste.

Since water belongs to all of us in Washington, it’s up to us. Together we can use water responsibly to help ensure sustainable water supplies now and for future generations.

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) In the next two weeks, we’ll have additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! 

Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.

Ah Spring!

Time to make the most of yard debris and cleanup duties

by Joye Redfield-Wilder, communications manager, central region

What glorious weather we've been having across the state!

It's got me puttering around my yard. Maybe you are busy on your property, as well. I don't know about you, but we've had some yard cleanup to do. A few arborvitae trees were so tall they were toppling over and had to come out.

It sure was handy for my husband and I to work as a team -- he cut them down and trimmed the limbs while I separated the logs from the materials that can be chipped and the rest that goes into the yard waste bin.

We've converted to chipping and composting over the last several years - and it's been rewarding in so many ways. We also have a large red oak tree - and acorns!

What to do with them?

We've found we can chip the smaller limbs and acorns into a nice ground cover that we spread among our garden beds. The evergreen fronds of the arborvitae went into the yard waste pickup bin provided by the city.

Chipping yard debris creates a ground cover

The larger logs will make great campfire wood or go to friends who have certified woodstoves. Now's the time to start drying out wood for those purposes.

These are just some ways to tackle yard debris this spring.

While in some communities outdoor burning of yard debris is still allowed -- it’s a hassle. Fires must be attended, property protected and smoke is a health risk and nuisance to your family and others. So don’t take chances!

Instead, chip twigs and compost leaves into a ground cover or mulch for your garden landscape. It saves money and reduces the threat of escaped fires – a top cause of wildfires, especially in Eastern Washington. And helps to keep the air clean. The exercise is good, too.

For more information, check out these alternatives to burning.

What can you do instead of burning yard waste?

If you live in an urban growth area (check on this link) where burning isn't allowed — or if you choose not to burn for health reasons — there are plenty of other ways to dispose of yard waste, including:

• Chipping
• Composting
• Curbside pickup
• Community-wide or neighborhood cleanup days Taking your yard waste to a landfill (many landfills have reduced or special fees for yard waste)

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) In the next two weeks, we’ll have additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.

 

EARTH DAY CHALLENGE: Do just one thing to reduce your carbon footprint

By Camille St. Onge, Communications

Earth Day is approaching, April 22! Make this year the year you help better the planet by reducing your carbon footprint. 

Tell us what you do

Leave a comment on this blog post and share something you have done, or are going to do, to reduce your carbon footprint.   

Click on our infographic to learn some super easy things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint! 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Who ya gonna call? 800-OILS-911

By Lisa Isakson, Community Outreach and Environmental Education Specialist

 

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “oil spill”? Do you picture the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with thick brownish-orange mats of goo and oil drenched birds? Or black-coated shorelines with people in white suits picking up tarballs or hosing down the rocks?

While those images are certainly true for large spills, the reality is that an oil spill can be as small as a couple drops of gasoline in water. While Washington state has not experienced a spill as large as the Deepwater Horizon or Exxon Valdez, every day oil is spilled in Washington waters. Spills can happen at fuel docks in marinas, in storm drains along roadways, when boats carrying fuel run aground or sink, while transferring oil from large vessels, or during equipment failures at oil terminals. This chronic discharge of oil impacts Washington’s environment, economies, and public health.

What you can do
First, prevent spills from happening.

• Do not top off your gas tank.
• Fix oil leaks right away.
• Dispose of used oil at your county’s collection center.


Next, report spills when you see them! Call 800-OILS-911 to report sheens or other spills of hazardous materials to water. The sooner someone notifies us of a spill, the quicker Ecology can launch a rapid, aggressive, and well-coordinated cleanup response.

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) Leading up to the big day, we’ll have additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.

Hazardous waste: Out of sight, out of mind?

Ecology hazardous waste inspector challenges all of us to think again 

by Krista Kenner, communications

It’s easy to go about your day and not think about hazardous waste disposal—out of sight, out of mind, right? But it’s important to step back every so often and think about how we as a community, and as individuals, generate and manage our waste.

And more importantly ask, can we do a better job?

Mindy Collins, hazardous waste compliance inspector in Ecology’s Bellingham office, has thought about waste almost every day of her 20-year environmental career, which has largely focused on waste disposal and management.

Collins is part of Ecology’s Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction team. Her job is to help businesses figure out how to better manage the waste they generate. (And save money along the way.)

Sometimes that means reducing waste through innovation. Other times that means changing disposal methods. But before she can do any of that, she has to learn about their business, their products and the processes that create waste.

“I feel so lucky,” said Collins. “I get to talk to people about their businesses, and learn about their products. The stories I get to hear about the history of the company, or how they started making a product—it’s just fascinating.”

Different businesses, common concerns

You might be surprised to learn the wide range of businesses and organizations that generate hazardous waste. Big box stores, hospitals, universities, and even art studios, to name a few.

Collins typically visits businesses that generate a significant volume of hazardous waste—220 lbs or more of waste per month—or those that need additional help managing it. In the last year, she visited a boat builder, wood treatment facility, aerospace manufacturer, pharmaceutical manufacturer, a company that makes fishing lures, and a company that makes orthotics for children.

“There’s one commonality in all of these vastly different companies,” Collins said. “Business owners are busy. And let’s face it, environmental regulations can be confusing—especially to someone who doesn’t work with them every day. I really enjoy helping people navigate the process.”

She looks at how wastes are stored, and whether there are any risks to human health or the environment. Are the containers appropriate, and in good condition? Are they labeled correctly? Is there a spill response plan? She also looks at the company’s waste disposal records to see what is going where. Each industry and business has its own set of challenges and complexities, but success stories abound.

Putting business practices to good use

Earth Day is less than two weeks away, making April a great month to look inward and refocus our own daily habits. How can we take a Mindy Collins approach to household waste? What ingredients make up the products we use? How should they be safely disposed? What are we throwing away that could be put to better use?

Most of us lead busy lives and changing habits is difficult—especially when we don’t have an environmental consultant to guide us. So we’ve culled our online resources to help you.

Tools to reduce, manage, and safely dispose of household waste:

1.) Be curious. We have a team of people that test consumer products to ensure that manufacturers are complying with restrictions and reporting requirements. You can read these reports, or search for information on individual products.

2.) Choose safer products. We’ve compiled a list of great resources for shoppers looking for safer, greener products. EPA also has an interactive tool to help find better products for the home, school, office and more.

3.) Think before you buy, or throw away. Adhesives, degreasers, toilet cleaners, batteries, and paint are among the many hazardous wastes that are common in households. Choose alternative products, buy in small quantities, and safely dispose at a hazardous waste collection site.

4.) Recycle fluorescent lights. The LightRecycle Washington program helps Washington residents and businesses recycle fluorescent and mercury-containing lights for free.

5.) Recycle electronics. E-Cycle Washington is a successful program that helps keep old electronics, which may contain toxic materials, out of our landfills. Bring televisions, computers, monitors and tablets and more to an e-Cycle location in your area.

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) In the next two weeks, we’ll have additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.