Cleaning Kitsap's runoff proves to be a big job

When storms hit, umbrellas get opened and motorists slow down to avoid hydroplaning on wet roads. But the heavy rainfall also means pollutants such as toxic metals and oils are washed off city streets and into local waters. And that is a major hazard to fish, shellfish and recreators.

According to Dr. Chris May, Manager of Kitsap County Storm Water Projects, the pollutants from stormwater runoff can be reduced by bringing the 600 or so stormwater ponds in the county up to modern standards, and by using treebox filters to clean the water before it flows off the land.

May spoke to the Central Kitsap Community Council recently about what the multi-agency group Clean Water Kitsap has done to keep the waters of Sinclair Inlet, Dyes Inlet and Liberty Bay as clean as possible.

Clean Water Kitsap's efforts have paid off: they say lab tests show that in 2013 the county removed over 1,700 tons of potentially harmful solid material from catch basins, ponds and roads including 529 pounds of toxic metals such as copper, lead and zinc and 304 gallons of oil.

* Duwe'iq Wetland Treatment Facility

The Duwe'iq Wetland Treatment Facility project is one of the larger projects on the horizon. The facility plans show an S-shaped waterway several hundred meters in length located in a lot behind the Car Toys store in Silverdale. It would collect and clean runoff in the area. Currently the runoff is flowing untreated into Clear Creek.

May believed the project would be the first time in the state where a stormwater pond was used to treat water from commercial areas.

Normally these projects only focused on county lands, May said, not commercial land.

"But to be quite honest with you, if you want to clean up Puget Sound or if you want to clean up Dyes Inlet or if you want to clean up Clear Creek you have to address the commercial areas that were built and had no stormwater treatment."

Otherwise, stormwater from about a 27-acre area would not be treated. And business owners were unlikely to do anything to manage stormwater runoff on their own, May said.

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Cleaning Kitsap's runoff proves to be a big job