Western Washingtons Regional Stormwater Monitoring Program Meaningful feedback
Western Washington’s Regional Stormwater Monitoring Program
Meaningful feedback • Municipal permittees spend >$250 million per year managing stormwater • Is it working? • SAM represents about 1% investment for monitoring to answer this question
. ABOUT Stormwater Action Monitoring (SAM) is Collaborative • Formal committee of stakeholders (Stormwater Work Group), caucuses, workshops, surveys and polls. Regional • Western Washington Funded • By municipal stormwater NPDES permittees: 91 cities, towns, counties; 2 ports; WSDOT • In-kind from Ecology, WSDA, USGS, Redmond, Penn Cove Shellfish, Cedar Grove, hundreds of mussel monitoring volunteers SAM’s goals • Improve stormwater management by evaluating the effectiveness of stormwater management actions and impacts to receiving waters.
SAM is a committee driven program • DIRECT involvement with the Stormwater Work Group (SWG) committees • Formal committee of stakeholders, shapes SAM, sends recommendations to Ecology for SAM and permits • INDIRECTLY involvement via SW permits • Cities and counties fund SAM • Implement SW permits and provide data • Learn about best new practices
Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) Steering Committee SWG Staff (Ecology) Stormwater Work Group (SWG) Pooled Resources Oversight Committee (PRO-C) Toxics Work Group PSEMP Work Group Leads Fresh Water Work Group Nearshore Work Group Marine Waters Work Group Other Work Groups: Salmonids Forage, Fish&Food Webs Effectiveness Subgroup Source Identification Information Repository (SIDIR) Subgroup SAM Coordinator & SAM Scientist Roads & Highways Subgroup Agricultural Runoff Subgroup Structured membership Open membership Other Subgroups Hired staff
Characteristics of SAM projects • SWG determines which projects to fund • Funding is not confined by timeframes or ceilings • Multi-year studies can be done in phases • Studies are led by local, state, or federal government agencies • Many sub-contracted to consultants or universities • All projects are deliverables based agreements • Most studies have a technical advisory committee • Smaller projects have a liaison to review design approach and deliverables
How SAM works - a new paradigm for permit monitoring • Ecology manages SAM • Invoice permittees for amounts in S 8 of the NPDES Permit • Manage contracts for SAM studies • Coordinate reviews on deliverables • Prepare quarterly and annual reports on income, expenditures, encumbrances • Provide transparency via web on accounts and studies • Keep SWG and subcommittees informed
SAM’s Scientific Framework How well are required or innovative stormwater management practices working? What are the most common types of pollution in stormwater? How do we know if environment quality is getting better or worse?
Effectiveness and Source ID Topics • Source Control • Businesses inspections from permittee and owner perspectives • Operation & Maintenance • Catch basin cleaning frequency and costs survey • 2014’s IDDE records • Learn from incidents reported by western WA permittees • Feasibility of a regional spill hotline number • Updated IC/ID Manual 9
Effectiveness Topics cont’d • BMP Retrofits • Highways • Regional facilities • Watershed Scale • Low Impact Development • Benefits to receiving waters • Long term performance 10
“LID” “Green Infrastructure” “Bioretention” “Raingardens” • Flow runoff reduction • Treatment by soil medium filtered unfiltered
City of Tacoma’s Study: Overall SW Management Effectiveness • Measure the overall effectiveness of Tacoma’s NPDES Stormwater Management Program • Started in 2001 • 1, 836 samples collected at 7 outfalls § 347 baseflow § 1, 084 stormwater § 405 stormwater sediment samples
Receiving water monitoring 2013 -2018 • Environments monitored: • Puget Lowland streams • Puget Sound nearshore • What’s measured: • Water quality • Sediment quality • Biotic endpoints
Puget lowland streams • Sampled in 2015, again in 2020.
Puget Sound nearshore • Mussels (WDFW) sampled winter 15 -16 and 17 -18 • Sediment chemistry (USGS, WDNR, King Co), summer 2016 • Bacteria (Ecology, DOH) • No sampling, date compiled from 27 entities, 2010 -15
How is SAM useful to Permittees? • Transferable findings across jurisdictions • Fact Sheets, booklet, videos, and website • Stakeholders receive SAM findings together • Inform councils, legislature, permits and manuals • Adaptively manage to protect lakes, rivers, local streams, and Puget Sound. • Multiple ways to be involved • Small or limited capacity jurisdictions can be involved by offering sites or technical expertise on studies • Pose key questions for learning • Conduct monitoring if have capacity
What’s ahead for SAM? • Continues in next MS 4 permits • Developing project and findings website, fact sheets, booklet, & videos for stormwater managers and stakeholders • Applying findings to: • Effectiveness projects • Receiving water design to optimize trend power ecology. wa. gov/SAM
Results to Date Foss Stormwater Trends Of the 49 tests performed, 47 have had decreasing trends over the 16 year monitoring period OUTFALL CHEMICAL PERCENT REDUCTION In 5 Outfalls All 7 Outfalls Solids Lead or Zinc PAHs Phthalates 51 -74% 44 -78% 77 -96% 54 -83% Example – Total HPAH concentrations have decreased to low levels and further decrease may not be feasible
Stormwater Management Actions NPDES Required Actions • Business Inspections • Spill response • CB cleaning • Facility Maintenance • Small Onsite Treatment • Tracing Illicit discharge • Education Other Actions • SW Line cleaning • Street sweeping • Regional Treatment Facilities
Outfall 230 Annual Average Stormwater Chemistry Start of Street Sweeping Program Concentration (µg/L) 100 2010 Pipe Retrofit Project Basin-wide Cleaning a A Street Regional Treatment System TSS (x 0. 0005) 2013 Pipe Retrofit Project Zinc (x 0. 2) Total LPAHs (x 100) Total HPAHs (x 20) Total Phthalates (x 5) 10 1 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Concentration (µg/L) Discussion: Ideas for SW Actions TSS (x 0. 0005) 100 Zinc (x 0. 2) Total LPAHs (x 100) Total HPAHs (x 20) Total Phthalates (x 5) 10 1 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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