On Saturday I was at Hamm Creek on the Duwamish, for the last People for Puget Sound habitat restoration work party of the year. At lunch I was sitting with Bruce Clifton, a long-time Sound Steward, talking about this and that, but mostly about people driving cars, and what cars deposit on the streets that is then washed into the Sound. I had to keep qualifying my marks disparaging car usage with "and she says, after she drove here". Driving to work parties at the restoration sites are some of the rare occasions that I use my car. Bruce doesn't drive and doesn't have a car. He provides instructions for people to get to the restoration sites by bus, but there is usually a pretty good hike involved. We lost a volunteer Saturday who was trying to get there by bus and couldn't find the way.
We discussed the Puget Sound Partnership Action Agenda that was just approved by the legislature. The studies done as background for the Agenda confirmed that stormwater runoff, much of it carried by roads, is the largest source of pollutants to the Sound, contributing the lion's share of the 52 million pounds of pollutants going into the Sound each year. Not all of that is from cars, but a huge portion is, including some of the most potent toxics. Hybrid and electric cars are a better choice than standard combustion engines, but they are not a solution. A set of car tires will deposit 7 or 8 pounds of hydrocarbons on roadways in their normal span of use. Leaking lubricants are a big source of hydrocarbons. Copper is one of the pollutants that causes the most harm to salmon, even in small amounts, and most of it comes from brake linings. One of the recommendations, besides reducing driving, is to use brake pads made of hemp instead of copper. David Dicks, Puget Sound Partnership executive director, had a good laugh over that one at a presentation last Thursday, saying that college students would be fully supporting that measure.
I drive my hybrid car rarely, but have not completely given it up yet. Better cars will help, but will never be a solution. That's why I favor, in bailout plans for the Big Three, having them retool to produce mass transit vehicles, not just better cars. Streetcars and railcars are not produced in this country any longer and have to be shipped from overseas.
Many other toxics in the Sound are generated by individuals in daily practices involving pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Phthalates, a potential endocrine disruptor, are a cheap, convenient plasticizer found in a multitude of products, even though it is not listed on any label. Personal choices are important and can make a big impact; the sources of toxics are so widespread, endemic, and non self-evident, however, that regulation will probably be required to prevent the contaminants from being included in products in the first place.
I volunteer for habitat restoration on the Duwamish because, in the larger sense, that is my watershed. I actually live on Elliott Bay, on a "combined system" of pipes that drain into the sanitary system for treatment under normal circumstances, but cause untreated sewage overflow directly into the bay after major rain events. It's hard to think of this invisible system of pipes as a "watershed", which makes it hard for individuals to envision how their actions impact the local and greater watersheds. As an old-time Bioregional Congress participant, accustomed to actual, visible, watersheds that residents can identify with on an up close and personal level, I find it hard to identify with pipes in the street. I would like to understand the system better, however - to have maps of how my streets are draining, and where the end-of-pipe is out in the bay. I imagine taking a kayak out there in the rain to take water samples, to know exactly what my streets are contributing. I would like to engage community involvement, as is done around creek watersheds, but it is difficult to imagine a community organizing around these invisible pipes. What would community involvement look like? We might encourage better control of pet waste, get more of the locals to drive less - but in our urban neighborhood most of the people in cars are driving through, and don't actually live here - like the people who love the elevated viaduct. Perhaps we could raise enough interest to convince SDOT to install true Green Street stormwater infrastructure, instead of the current improvements that, although lovely, don't mitigate any of the stormwater in the street. Perhaps we could interest more urban property owners in contributing to improvements such as the Swale on Yale.
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