Nick Slaloms in Liberty Bay

Puget Sound is worth caring about. We have one of the richest marine environments in the world supporting an intricate web of relationships between people, other living creatures and our surroundings. To solve the problems of Puget Sound we need to understand the complex relationship between how we live, what we do and how our ecosystem works.

Man Made Things

 A man made thing is a project made by man. Some man made projects will help the water by cleaning it, and some will pollute the water.  When people make decks in the water they might use wood with creosote. This can kill marine life.  So people should  be taught not to use some things when building near the water.  Also, paint or washing with detergent is harmful to marine life.

Sewers may start leaking when a pipe is placed under water and may make the water more polluted . Sometimes leaking septics contaminate ground water and drain into the bay. Teaching people to maintain these will protect the water. There are structures made by man that help prevent stormwater runoff from going into the bay too quickly. These are bioswales, stormwater detention and other things. They still don't work as well as trees and lots of vegetation, though. Freshwater creeks and streams draining into bay may carry pollution from upland development and poor farming practices. Understanding how the watershed works will help us understand how to prevent pollution. People living on the shoreline especially must learn to be good stewards of this precious resource.

Nick's house on Lemolo Shore Drive on Liberty Bay

This is an illustration of natural processes and how what we do affects the water:

The kind of pollution caused by you and I is much more difficult to control than pollution from industry and municipal activities.
Every day, each of us contribute in small ways to nonpoint pollution.
Rainwater suspends and carries the many different types of pollutants
that settle on our roofs, yards, roadways and other surfaces into the
Puget Sound. The illustration above shows things we do and
ways that this happens.

Since we all contribute directly or indirectly to the problem,
we all need to help in the battle against it.