Sue Blake, Water Resource Educator
Sue Blake, Water Resource Educator
Teri King, Marine Water Quality Specialist
The Bivalves for Clean Water program educates marine shoreline owners and recreational shellfish harvesters about coastal pollution, ecosystem health, water quality and resource management issues challenging Puget Sound and Hood Canal. This multifaceted approach lets participants choose activities that fit their individual learning styles and interests.
Activities offered include workshops, field trips, shellfish-enhancement activities, citizen monitoring, beach walks and assessments, site visits, publications and one-on-one technical assistance.
WSG recruits and trains volunteers to identify and eliminate pollution sources in their watersheds, enhance recreational shellfish populations and conduct safe recreational harvest trips.
Teri King, Marine Water Quality Specialist
Contaminants in Puget Sound are a growing concern. Heavy metals such as mercury, copper and lead are known to have neurological, developmental and reproductive effects on wildlife and humans. Cleaning products may not be responsible for the majority of contaminants in Puget Sound but they do contribute to pollution problems.
Nicole Faghin, Coastal Management Specialist
Each year Washington loses more of its natural shorelines to development and erosion-control structures such as bulkheads, seawalls and riprap. WSG is a partner in the development of Green Shores for Homes. Patterned after the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Shores for Homes is an incentive program for shorelines that is designed to advance sustainable coastal planning, design and development through practices such as wider setbacks, riparian buffers and stormwater management, which can protect critical functions and make later restoration actions unnecessary.
WSG assists homeowners and other interested in learning about shoreline restoration and alternatives to conventional hard shoreline armoring.
Jeff Adams, Marine Ecologist and Teri King, Marine Water Quality Specialist
Ian Miller, Coastal Hazards Specialist
In addition to supporting the research, WSG partners with multiple entities engaged in the Elwha studies to facilitate funding, coordinate outreach efforts, organize meetings and publish results.
A Septic Social is a great way to meet your neighbors and entertain your friends while discovering your underground treasure. The program, which has been running for more than 20 years, was developed by WSG to bring the topic of septic system operation and maintenance to users’ backyards.
Sea Grant staff meet with the host a week before a Social to uncover the septic system and learn its layout. During the Social, participants learn to check the sludge and scum layer as well as the system’s flow. Uncovering the system and letting people explore it from aboveground takes the mystery out of how the system works.
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Planting is recommended in septic areas because plants assist oxygen exchange and evaporation in the drainfield area. Covering your septic area with plastics, bark, gravel or patio blocks set in sand won’t provide the same benefits as planting. Landscapes can be attractive and easily maintained when you choose the right plants and adornments to conceal aboveground septic system components. How do you know which plants will do well? Which ones won’t harm your system? This workshop teaches homeowners the basics of landscaping existing and new septic systems.
For more information about these workshops, email Teri King at wsgcanal@uw.edu.
Jeff Adams, Marine Ecologist
Jeff Adams, Marine Ecologist
To support such restoration efforts, staff are completing a guide to shoreline plants, together with related web content, and have created a Shoreline Monitoring Tool Kit as an aid while out on the beach for volunteers and other shoreline monitors.
Teri King, Marine Water Quality Specialist, Jeff Adams, Marine Ecologist, and Sue Blake, Water Resource Faculty
Teri King, Marine Water Quality Specialist
Four times a year, residents can submit drinking water samples to WSG to be tested for bacterial indicators of fecal contamination. WSG then helps participants interpret the test results and, if necessary, works closely with them to identify and remedy sources of contamination.
Sue Blake, Water Resource Educator