Rain washes millions of gallons of oil into sound

SEATTLE – The 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska dumped 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. The Puget Sound is being impacted nearly as much from stormwater runoff, which washes away between 6.3 million and 8 million gallons of petroleum from roads, parking lots and other solid surfaces each year, according to a new Department of Ecology report.

As the push to clean up the Puget Sound gets going, researchers are highlighting the depth of the problem, as pollution comes from all over the sound, both directly and indirectly.

Everyone who drives a car and parks in a parking lot is partly responsible for one of the biggest sources of Puget Sound pollution, while oil spills and sewage treatment plans contribute smaller percentages of the pollution.

“Certainly, when you look at the diffuse nature and the complexity of runoff … yeah, it will make the challenge greater,” said Josh Baldi, a special assistant for Puget Sound with the Ecology Department, told the Seattle Times.

The report issued Friday, which cost $135,000 and was paid for by the Environmental Protection Agency, is the first attempt to quantify all the sources of pollution that sicken orcas and make fish and shellfish unsafe for humans to eat.

“We’re trying to sort of move away from random acts of kindness and prioritize actions, based on the analysis and substance of what we find to be out there,” David Dicks, director of the Puget Sound Partnership, the government agency responsible for the health of the Sound, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

Findings from the report include: Pollutants including arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, zinc, mercury, the banned pesticide DDT and phthalates – a chemical used in plastics – come mostly from stormwater runoff.

Air pollution contributes toxic flame retardants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are created by fuel being burned, vehicle exhaust and woodstoves.

Sewage overflows during heavy rainstorms contribute little of the overall pollution, the report said, but they do create local toxic hotspots.

Rich Berkowitz, director of Pacific Coast Operations Transportation Institution, a nonprofit representing the maritime industry, was glad to hear that oil spills accounted for only 4 percent of the petroleum pollution in the sound. Stormwater runoff created most of the problem.

“We are winning the battle on preventing oil spills from commercial vessels,” Berkowitz said. “We’ve been losing the battle for far too long on runoff.”

Josh Baldi, the Department of Ecology’s special assistant for Puget Sound, said the message he heard is prevention is working, but citizens and the government must be as diligent about other types of pollution.

The report’s findings are in contrast to public perceptions, according to recent polls, that Puget Sound is being sickened chiefly by pollution from industry.

“This study helps reverse that thinking,” said Heather Trim, of the environmental group People for Puget Sound. “All of us driving around in our cars and all the things we are doing in our homes and our business are all contributing to this problem.”