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Stormwater Management Program
Protecting our waters from pollution
Get the facts on polluted runoff
Rainwater picks up what it touches, from dog poop to fluids dripped by cars to fertilizers and pesticides used in your yard. Pollution starts small – so small that you might not think this one pile of dog poop or one dripping car is enough to make a difference. If it was the only source, it might not be. But pollution adds up quickly.
Vehicles leak an estimated 7 million quarts of oil into the Puget Sound watershed each year. That adds up to a tanker truck’s worth of oil dripping on the ground every day in the Puget Sound region! Dogs in Skagit County produce an estimated 5,471 pounds of poop every day – poop that is full of harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites. At any one time, we estimate that 1-2% of the more than 19,000 septic systems in the county are failing, with sewage surfacing in yards. More than 35 different pesticides have been detected in Skagit County surface water, and fifteen have been detected in stream sediments, as much as six times the concentration considered toxic to stream life.
Left unchecked, all this pollution can result in a toxic brew that harms fish, marine animals like orca whales, our families, our economy, and our community. That’s why we’re asking our community, and YOU, to take action.
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