water pollution

How much fish is healthy? Wash. tribes push for updated standard

Bellamy Pailthorp — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:41:07 +0000

How much fish should you eat? The state Department of Health recommends two meals of fish a week. But the Department of Ecology assumes people eat far less, about the equivalent of one meal per month.

That’s because it uses those assumptions to calculate how much water pollution can be legally allowed in Washington—pollution that ends up in the fish we eat.

Seattle Mayor aiming high on green infrastructure for stormwater

Bellamy Pailthorp — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:46:46 +0000

When you look around the streets of Seattle, you can expect to see less concrete and more greenery being put in over the next 12 years.

The City is planning to dramatically increase its use of green infrastructure to treat stormwater runoff.

Stormwater runoff is acknowledged as the single largest source of pollution in Puget Sound.

Rising rate of plastics ingested by birds off the coast of Washington

Bellamy Pailthorp — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:40:46 +0000

A new study suggests there’s been a dramatic increase in plastic pollution off the coast of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 years.

That’s after analysis of trash ingested by seabirds in Washington and British Columbia.

Mutant two-headed trout spur scrutiny of mine pollution

Jessica Robinson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:41:19 +0000

SODA SPRINGS, Idaho - Here’s an image you usually don’t see without the help of Photoshop: two-headed fish. Pictures of deformed baby trout with two heads show up in a study of creeks in a remote part of southeast Idaho.

The study examined the effects of a contaminant called selenium. It comes from a nearby mine owned by the agribusiness giant, J.R. Simplot. Critics say the two-headed trout have implications beyond a couple of Idaho creeks.

Ban on cruise ship discharges proposed for Washington waters

Bellamy Pailthorp — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:18:53 +0000

Cruise ships are big business for the Port of Seattle.

Last season, about 200 calls brought nearly 900,000 passengers and their wallets though the city. Projections for this season are about the same. Each call equates to about $1.9 million in local spending.

But that economic benefit comes with ecological risk.

Now the state’s Department of Ecology is backing a proposed ban on cruise ship discharges while the vessels are in Washington waters.

Rainwater gardens preventing toxic runoff into Puget Sound

Bellamy Pailthorp — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:04:38 +0000

The forecast is for sunny skies this weekend and some of the warmest temps we've seen all year.

But when it rains a lot – as it has been lately – the runoff from city streets and houses pours toxins straight into Puget Sound.

How homeowners can address that kind of water pollution is the subject of a series of neighborhood tours put on throughout the region this summer. The first one is this weekend in Seattle.

Marine “dead zones” detailed in interactive online map

Liam Moriarty — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:03:37 +0000

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-947308.mp3

Growing populations and increasing pollution are contributing to more and more “dead zones” in bays and oceans around the world.

Now there’s an interactive online map pinpointing more than 760 spots across the globe—including 22 in Washington – that either are dead zones or are in danger of becoming one.

What’s a “dead zone?”

Stormwater runoff: A flood of crud

Liam Moriarty — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:27:33 +0000

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-946671.mp3

We’re still dealing with landslides and flooding from the heavy rains brought by last week’s Pineapple Express storms. But the downpour also washed a flood of gunk and junk off of the region’s streets, sidewalks and parking lots, into more than 4,500 storm drains and right into Puget Sound.

Storm drains usually empty underwater, so nobody sees the flood of crud that pours into rivers and bays across the region.

Well, almost no one ...