Tons of Waste Smother Hood Canal

OLYMPIA, Washington, May 7, 2004 (ENS) - Low levels of dissolved oxygen in the Hood Canal have been killing fish and other marine life and have resulted in the closure of the canal to fishing. Tons of waste material dumped into the canal have robbed the waterway of its oxygen, but a new set of suggestions for remedial action might help restore the canal to health.

On Thursday, the Governor's Puget Sound Action Team and the Hood Canal Coordinating Council released their assessment and plan for corrective action. The report estimates that 100 to 300 tons of nitrogen enter the canal every year from six primary sources of nutrient pollution and suggests actions to reduce the contamination.

"As predicted, we did not find a smoking gun to point to the single contributor that's robbing Hood Canal of dissolved oxygen," said Duane Fagergren, Action Team director of special projects.

"We did establish that nutrient pollution from many sources, including sewage from people and runoff from farms and towns, puts significant amounts of nitrogen into the canal and ultimately contributes to the low dissolved oxygen problem."

Nutrient materials from human and pet waste, stormwater runoff and fertilizers cause algae to grow, the team found. When the algae dies and decomposes, it robs oxygen from the water that fish need to survive.

Technical experts in state and federal agencies, including the Washington departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife, as well as tribal and local governments gave data and advice to the Action Team and the Council as they wrote the the Hood Canal Low Dissolved Oxygen Preliminary Assessment and Corrective Action plan (PACA).

The organizations identified six major sources of nitrogen associated with human activities, and estimated that the actions collectively put between 100 to 300 tons of nitrogen into the canal every year.

Human sewage is the largest contributor to the waste streaming into the canal. Each year somewhere between 39 and 241 tons of human sewage enter the waterway, about 60 percent of the estimated nitrogen from human activities.

The range of this estimate and the others is due to the difficulty in precise measurement of the nitrogen content of each source, as well as some uncertainty about how much nitrogen from each source is ultimately delivered to the canal, the team said.

Agriculture manure contributes about 14 percent -18 to 22 tons. Chum salmon carcasses make up about 13 percent - 16 to 24 tons.

Stormwater runoff contributes 11 percent - 12 to 24 tons. Discharges from point sources contribute two percent an estimated two to five tons, and forestry contributes just one percent - 0.5 to 5 tons.

The PACA recommends increasing areas served by community sewer systems, exploring non-regulatory options for onsite sewage systems and stormwater runoff, developing alternatives to marine disposal of salmon carcasses, bolstering the use of low impact development techniques, and providing manure and nutrient management information, training and incentives for farmers.

The PACA is viewed as a first step toward a long term recovery plan for Hood Canal. The Action Team will refine and enhance the PACA's preliminary findings, with further assessment and monitoring information from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other organizations, as the information becomes available.

"What we are trying to do with the PACA is to look at new and innovative approaches that will help address the problems and also boost programs that are currently in place," said Jay Watson, executive director of the Council.

The Action Team plans to offer approximately $600,000 in state and federal funding to implement the top priority activities in the PACA, as a down payment toward a long-term investment to help fix the dissolved oxygen problem.

This spring, it will announce a process to distribute these funds to assist local communities start and continue actions to help improve the dissolved oxygen levels in Hood Canal.

To learn more visit: www.psat.wa.gov/Programs/hood_canal.htm.