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.

Nonpoint pollution: What’s the point?

By Sandy Howard, communications manager, Water Quality Program

Its name is confusing and its definition is complicated.

But, nonpoint pollution is something you should care about.

It’s one of the leading sources of water pollution in Washington.

What we call “nonpoint pollution” is really the combined environmental effects of modern life. It’s the rubber from our car tires, bacteria from our pets and failing septic tanks, copper from our brake pads, phosphorous from our cleaning products, and muddy water from cleared land – it’s a little bit of everything that we leave behind as we go about our business.

When your home septic system fails,
remember it doesn't just fail at home. Find out more.

When it rains, the runoff picks up and carries this pollution downstream into our lakes, rivers and marine waters. It can send bacteria into our waters that closes our shellfish and swimming beaches. It can release PCBs and pesticides from the land.

When we cut down trees next to the shoreline, we lose vital shade that’s needed to keep the water cold for salmon. This, too, is a type of nonpoint pollution.

Nonpoint pollution is not just an urban phenomenon – nonpoint pollution is a problem in suburban and rural areas as well. Nonpoint pollution happens in agricultural areas, forests and in your neighborhood.

We’re finding and fixing problems

The good news is that local governments and organizations are finding and fixing nonpoint pollution problems, one step at a time.

In Washington, we have an ongoing funding source to help them tackle nonpoint pollution. It’s the Clean Water Act Section 319 Federal Grant program. This money comes to Ecology from the federal government to help pay for projects to clean up nonpoint pollution.

Here are a couple of success stories this grant program has funded to reduce nonpoint pollution:

Direct seeding reduces erosion

A $100,000 grant in eastern Washington has helped Ecology educate wheat growers about direct seeding technology. It’s a tillage practice that allows dry-land growers, primarily wheat growers, to plant seeds and fertilize a new crop on top of the previous crop, keeping topsoil in place. This seeding process decreases soil erosion and carbon emissions, and increases soil health. Direct seed growers now have a program in several eastern Washington counties to certify that they are preventing erosion and protecting vegetation along streams and rivers. Watch this short video to learn more.

Cleaning up bacteria in Hood Canal

We gave a $500,000 nonpoint grant to Jefferson County Health Department and Jefferson County Conservation District. Together, these organizations significantly knocked back a bacteria pollution problem in the Hood Canal watershed. Bacteria is a problem because it can make water unsafe for swimming, drinking or for eating shellfish.

Famous Washington state oysters.

The grant helped the local health department find and fix 36 failing residential septic systems. They held education classes for homeowners. They found and addressed vacation homes with unpermitted septic systems. They installed portable toilets and a dumpster along a popular fishing area on the Big Quilcene River to prevent bacteria and waste from recreational fishers.

And, the agencies planted 13,000 live stakes and 2,100 bare root trees and shrubs along Leland Creek to create shade that blocks the sun to keep the water cool and more fish friendly.

Problems are real, but they are fixable

These stories tell us that while nonpoint pollution problems are real, they are fixable.

And this is where you come in.

We are asking for your feedback to help us update our Nonpoint Plan, the state’s roadmap to address nonpoint pollution.

Our plan, officially called Washington’s Water Quality Management Plan to Control Nonpoint Sources of Pollution (Nonpoint Source Plan), provides the foundation of our state’s approach to address land-use caused pollution.

Our updated Nonpoint Plan will set strong goals, and clearer standards to protect public health and restore our waterways. Our plan will seek to support sustainable communities through the creation and preservation of strong local relationships. The plan will recognize the importance of public participation in understanding and addressing nonpoint pollution.

Tell us what you think

We are having public meetings across the state to ask for your input.

2- 4 p.m., May 6 at Ecology headquarters, Lacey (in-person meeting and online webinar)

6- 8 p.m., May 11 at Yakima Area Arboretum, Yakima

6- 8 p.m., May 12 at Oxford Suites Spokane Valley Washington Hotel, Spokane

6- 8 p.m., May 18 at Edmonds Conference Center, Edmonds

If you want to learn more, you can get details at our website.  

Shoreline recreation opportunities abound in southeast Washington

By Brook Beeler, communications manager, Eastern Region

Despite a population just fewer than 30,000 combined, Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties have a lot to offer recreationists.

Southeast Washington counties receive more than one million visits each year to public recreation sites for outdoor activities like boating, cycling, hiking and fishing.

The Grande Rhonde River meets the Snake River in Asotin County.

As part of a local shoreline program update, a coalition of local governments has developed a public access plan to connect residents and visitors with southeast Washington’s unique shoreline resource.

The plan outlines existing site locations, amenities and potential improvements as well as possible partnerships and funding sources to make the improvements a reality.

Petroglyphs left by Nez Perce Tribe
indicating their historic use of the area.

You can tell the coalition what you think about plans to maintain and improve existing recreation sites including parking, signage, picnic areas and restrooms.

Comments will be accepted until May 29. You can review 

the plan and submit comments online by visiting www.sewasmpupdates.com.

The coalition includes Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties along with the town of Starbuck and the city of Clarkston.

More photos of southeast Washington recreation opportunities can be found in an Ecologywa Flickr album.

1-800-RECYCLE answers the big questions

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Waste 2 Resources

Where do you go to recycle llama poop?

That was one of the first questions Ecology’s Michelle Payne received when she began staffing the 1-800-RECYCLE hotline back in 1998.

Most of us know where to go to recycle aluminum cans or newspapers, but what about a tanning bed? How about a scuba tank? What about an old set of blueprints?

The 1-800-RECYCLE line (1-800-732-9253) is a free service that helps Washington residents find the appropriate place to recycle just about everything. The hotline’s database includes 1,801 recycling facilities and 116 different types of recyclable materials.

And, yes, that includes llama manure. As it turns out, Payne says, you can take it to a composting facility.

The 1-800-RECYCLE hotline has operated since 1976, and the 1800RECYCLE.wa.gov website came online along with Michelle in 1998. The 1-800-RECYCLE Facebook page started just last year.

Three Ecology staff members answer the hotline from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays – which will expand to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays beginning May 1. The phone team averages nearly 400 calls a month, while another 6,000 people find answers on the automated website.

The 1-800-RECYCLE team relies on local governments, businesses and the public to learn about new collection sites, or new materials being accepted for recycling. They work hard to keep the database current, checking on every facility via the web or through an email or phone call at least once a year.

If you know of a new facility, or an existing facility accepting new materials, email 1800recycle@ecy.wa.gov.

And if you’ve got some alpaca scat you need to unload, now you know who to call.

Why Washington is a natural stormwater leader

By Sandy Howard, Water Quality Program communications manager

Washington may be famous for its apples, coffee, aerospace, and software, but before any of these came along, we were famous for our rain.

The rain is a good thing, but it’s also a bad thing when it lands on our most-populated areas because it creates polluted stormwater runoff.

It’s a problem local governments are solving under the direction of the state’s municipal stormwater permit program. Our success is building, and it’s making Washington a natural stormwater leader.

Just this month, environmental delegations from Shanghai, China, came to Washington to learn about our stormwater programs. Our Water Quality Program hosted a 12-person delegation from the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau & Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences. They were here to learn about how Washington manages water quality in areas like stormwater and low-impact development.

We’ve come a long way, baby

Industries have dramatically reduced the pollution coming out of their pipes. Point source pollution is no longer our largest source of water pollution.

Now, our biggest challenge is broad-scale, land-based pollution. This is pollution that comes off the land from how we have developed and use the land.

People-caused, polluted stormwater runoff is our top threat to urban waters.

When we covered the land with hardened surfaces like roads, parking lots, sub-divisions and shopping malls, we restricted its ability to soak up the water and naturally filter out pollution. In addition, when we use many modern products, like plastics and paints, we introduce more chemicals to our environment.

Stormwater pollution sources are so widely distributed and so diverse – they are difficult to manage.

Stormwater settling pond - a common sight in Washington.

What’s positive in Washington is our ingenuity and political will to manage and prevent stormwater pollution. 

The economics of stormwater investments

Since 2006, we have provided more than $200 million in grants to local communities to build stormwater facilities and implement municipal stormwater permits.

This support has resulted in hundreds of new stormwater projects across the state.

Our Stormwater Financial Assistance Program, established in 2013, provides grants that help local governments build stormwater facilities and control sources of stormwater pollution. The money is paying for us to reduce stormwater’s impact in our human-built world.

• To install best management practices such as bio-retention areas.
• To build tree filter boxes that collect and clean up the stormwater while watering thirsty trees.
• To install pervious pavement to treat polluted stormwater.
• To control sources of stormwater.

What we’re getting for our investments

When we manage our stormwater, we support our economy. Money and jobs stay in Washington. We estimate that our state adds 11 jobs for every $1 million spent on stormwater infrastructure projects.

When we build new buildings, we are using Low Impact Development (LID) techniques.

Instead of piping stormwater away from a site as fast as we can, low impact development mimics the natural cycle. Sending the water back into the ground to achieves multiple benefits.

We are reducing flows and preventing the runoff.  We are improving urban aesthetics. We are keeping water colder and recharging our drinking water aquifers.

As money allows, we are retrofitting existing development to copy this idea. For example, we're adding engineered rain gardens, known as bioretention, to old parking lots.

We're figuring it out, naturally

Washington has become a natural leader in the management of stormwater, in part, because the problem fell right into our lap.

Mother Nature gave us the rain, so we are – by necessity – figuring it out naturally.

We think our visitors from China verified it.

We asked them why they wanted to meet with us. “We are just building our stormwater program,” one of the Shanghai engineers explained. “So we surveyed the U.S. and found Washington state had one of the best stormwater programs in the country. So we wanted to come here.”

A mother and daughter’s Earth Day message

By Devin Felix, Ecology web content specialist

Earth Day is all about looking out for those who will inherit our planet in the future. That’s something Maia Bellon takes very seriously as director of the Department of Ecology. And, perhaps even more importantly, it’s something she takes seriously as a mother.

In a new video for Earth Day 2015, Maia and her 11-year-old daughter Talia discuss why we should preserve the Earth — because we share it with future generations. Frankly, it’s adorable.

Happy Earth Day! Pass it on!

Can we afford to keep letting water go down the drain?

By Lynne Geller, Communication and Outreach, Water Resources Program

What’s easy, uncontroversial, saves money, gives you a good feeling and you can start doing today?

Stop wasting water.

Come on. There is no downside here. I know you don’t think wasting water is a good thing.

But you may think, “What difference can I make?” Of course, no one person can solve the daunting problem of growing demands on a finite resource. But this is a case of the power of collective impact: each of us making small changes results in big changes. 

So what can one person do? You may be surprised that a simple action like turning off the water when shaving or brushing your teeth can save up to 4 gallons a minute – or up to 200 gallons a week for a family of four! Multiply that by hundreds of thousands of households and we are talking a lot of water.

It’s all about using water wisely. No one is asking you to go without. Rather, it is all about using the water we have efficiently and avoid wasting it.

And watching your water bill go down is a wonderful additional benefit!

Simple, easy, no-fuss actions you can start today for good habits tomorrow

One great thing about conserving water is that no special equipment is needed. At first it is just a matter of remembering. Start by choosing just one or two small actions. Tape a reminder note on the bathroom mirror, near your kitchen sink, or wherever you want to start saving water. After you do these actions for a short while, they will begin to be habits. And then you won’t have to think about them at all. You’ll save water and money without giving it a thought. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Here are some easy things you can begin doing today:

• Keep your shower under 5 minutes and you’ll save up to 1,000 gallons a month. 
• Soak pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them clean.
• Grab a wrench and fix a leaky faucet, and you can save 140 gallons a week. Household water leaks waste more than 1 trillion gallons per year.
• Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap. This way every drop goes down you and not the drain.
• Drop tissues in the trash instead of flushing them. Toilets account for nearly 30 percent of water used in the home. Older models can use up to 6 gallons per flush; newer low-flow toilets use from 1.6 to 3.5 gallons. Putting trash in the wastebasket uses none. 

Don’t forget that outdoor water uses account for approximately 30 percent of total household water use. There are lots of easy things you can do to use less water outside. You can find dozens of tips on-line.

Every day is a good day to save water

You are hearing about the drought currently affecting parts of our state. Looking at the potential impact of limited water on homes, farms, businesses, and the environment is a sobering reminder that we can’t take water for granted. It is a precious resource – we can’t live without it. Conserving water is not just for water-short times. It’s important to do all year, every year.

No new water is being made. We still have the same amount of water as we did when dinosaurs wandered the Earth. And yet the demands on water continue to increase. Our state population is predicted to grow to 8.8 million by 2040, and there still needs to be enough water for fish, wildlife, and the environment. There can be enough water for all the many demands on it, now and into the future, if we choose to be water smart.

Learn more at Ecology’s Water Conservation page. Links to additional resources are included. 

A penny for your thoughts, but $9 for your ABS switch

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. A less well known (but cat-friendlier) saying is that there is more than one way to get mercury out of the environment. Mercury, the silvery, liquid metal, is a problem child. It’s highly toxic, it lasts essentially forever, and it builds up in the environment, causing health effects and environmental damage.

You don’t see mercury thermometers and thermostats around as much as you once did, but small amounts of the toxic metal can still be found in a range of applications. Because mercury is so dangerous, it’s important to find every bit of it we can and collect it before it can cause damage.

Mercury pellets from automotive switches.

One program that has been extremely effective in Washington is working with auto recyclers to collect mercury-containing automotive switches.

In older cars, many of the light, airbag and anti-lock brake switches contain a tiny pellet of mercury, so it makes sense to work with auto recyclers to collect those before the cars are cut up and turned into scrap.

Washington’s program pays recyclers $3 for light switches and $9 for ABS switches (which contain more mercury).

Does it work? Just look at the numbers:

• Since 2006, Ecology’s program has collected 234,500 switches
• Removing those switches has kept more than 500 pounds of mercury out of the environment
• In 2014, the program collected 1,518 ABS switches and 21,152 light switches, removing 50 pounds of mercury in the process.

Many other states offer similar programs, but Washington is a national leader in mercury removal. Our automotive switch program ranked fifth in the nation in mercury collected, despite Washington having a much smaller population and fewer vehicles than some of the other states.

What you can do
 It hopefully goes without saying, but you should not pull the ABS switch out of your car just because it may contain mercury. As long as the mercury is contained in the switch, it’s very safe. Ecology’s collection program is aimed at preventing long-term environmental damage.

However, there are some items most of us have around our homes that also contain mercury: fluorescent light bulbs and electronics.

As long as your fluorescent light bulbs are working, they’re safe and you can leave them be. When they do burn out, though, make sure you take the bulbs to a recycling center.

In January, Washington launched the LightRecycle program, which accepts fluorescent bulbs at convenient locations around the state. So do your part to keep mercury out of the environment and recycle your fluorescents!

For electronics, Washington’s E-Cycle program accepts TVs, computers and other electronic items and ensures they are properly recycled. It’s free and it’s easy, with more than 400 drop-off locations around the state. Since 2009, the E-Cycle program has collected more than 250 million pounds of electronics.

Learn more about Ecology’s environmental footprint and sustainability efforts

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction program

This is Earth Month, so sustainability is the word of the hour.

At Ecology, we think of ourselves as environmental leaders, responsible for protecting and restoring the air, land and water of Washington. As we do that, however, we leave an environmental footprint of our own with the vehicles we drive, the electricity we consume and the waste we generate.

To improve our sustainability, we first need to track that footprint and evaluate how we’re doing and where the best opportunities to improve lie.

One of the ways we do that is through our Sustainability Report. In this report, you’ll find data on Ecology’s energy consumption, greenhouse gas generation, waste and water use. You’ll also find broader categories of sustainability, such as our employee mix, our commuting habits and our budget.

The goal of reporting is to not only improve Ecology’s sustainability but to advance sustainability across the state by providing the data that can inform our strategic planning. Our Sustainability Report uses a framework established by the Global Reporting Initiative, or GRI.

GRI is a nonprofit organization that has introduced standardized language and metrics for sustainability reporting. GRI’s framework is the widely used by companies and organizations across the world.

Using a standard yardstick to measure our performance allows us to set an example for others. Last fall, Ecology hosted a GRI workshop that 85 businesses, governments and organizations attended.

Ecology’s Sustainability Report also advances the charge given to all state agencies by Gov. Jay Inslee to track and improve performance through Results Washington.

Gov. Inslee’s goal is to ensure a faster, smarter and more accountable state government. Sustainability, environmental protection, and the health of our communities are key performance areas for Results Washington.

Want to know more?
www.ecy.wa.gov/about/gri/2014

Cleaning Up: Small rural sites are big deals, too

By Seth Preston, communications manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Large cleanup sites – both in terms of physical size and amounts of pollution – capture a lot of public attention. For example, big, old industrial sites around Puget Sound and other large urban areas come to mind.

Eastern Washington Clean Sites Initiative locations

But cleaning up relatively small sites in rural communities often can have just as big of a positive income for those communities’ environment, economy and quality of life.

That’s where the Toxics Cleanup Program’s Eastern Washington Clean Sites Initiative comes in.

The initiative takes in a variety of polluted properties – from an old mill in Cashmere to a deteriorating gas station in Buena, and from a former hard chromium electroplating operation near Walla Walla to a Stevens County site contaminated by wood-treating chemicals.

The reason behind this work is simple: Every community matters. Every cleanup site matters.

It all adds up to help improve, restore and protect this one Earth we have.

Earth Day has evolved into Earth Month in Tri-Cities

By Ginger Wireman, education & community outreach specialist, Nuclear Waste Program

Earth Day as celebrated in the Mid-Columbia communities of Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, and West Richland started out as a festival in the park.

Exhibitors showed native plants, taught about habitat and water, demonstrated solar-powered fountains, made art out of recyclables, and more. What was a small event at first grew large enough that organizers became worried that it was creating waste (from food vendors, unused coloring sheets, etc.) more than it was teaching or helping to change behavior.

The GGTC leaf mascot donned a superhero cape
to promote the kids’ contest. 

The plug was pulled on the event in the park. But Mid-Columbia Earth Day grew into Earth Month, and now stretches from Earth Hour on the last Saturday in March, to an electric car race at Columbia Basin College in April 25.

Many of the former exhibitors offer classes and workshops, volunteer projects, and more throughout the month of April. An online calendar lists the myriad opportunities to learn, or do, in appreciation of our one livable planet. We also have an annual kids art contest. This year kids are asked to create a poster answering, “What’s your green Super Power?” showing how they can use their power to go greener.

Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program has helped organize and catalog these events over the years, which supports the agency Sustainability Plan’s goal to “contribute to the environmental well-being of communities that host Ecology facilities. Get involved in community activities to create a positive presence.”

Ecology staff has also helped with graphics, volunteered at some of the events, and assisted with special event planning, including getting electric cars involved in the annual classic car show “cruise,” an otherwise smelly and noisy affair!

We are proud of the partnerships we’ve built in the community.