When storms hit, umbrellas get opened and motorists slow down to avoid hydroplaning on wet roads. But the heavy rainfall also means pollutants such as toxic metals and oils are washed off city streets and into local waters. And that is a major hazard to fish, shellfish and recreators.

According to Dr. Chris May, Manager of Kitsap County Storm Water Projects, the pollutants from stormwater runoff can be reduced by bringing the 600 or so stormwater ponds in the county up to modern standards, and by using treebox filters to clean the water before it flows off the land.

May spoke to the Central Kitsap Community Council recently about what the multi-agency group Clean Water Kitsap has done to keep the waters of Sinclair Inlet, Dyes Inlet and Liberty Bay as clean as possible.

Clean Water Kitsap’s efforts have paid off: they say lab tests show that in 2013 the county removed over 1,700 tons of potentially harmful solid material from catch basins, ponds and roads including 529 pounds of toxic metals such as copper, lead and zinc and 304 gallons of oil.

* Duwe’iq Wetland Treatment Facility

The Duwe’iq Wetland Treatment Facility project is one of the larger projects on the horizon. The facility plans show an S-shaped waterway several hundred meters in length located in a lot behind the Car Toys store in Silverdale. It would collect and clean runoff in the area. Currently the runoff is flowing untreated into Clear Creek.

May believed the project would be the first time in the state where a stormwater pond was used to treat water from commercial areas.

Normally these projects only focused on county lands, May said, not commercial land.

“But to be quite honest with you, if you want to clean up Puget Sound or if you want to clean up Dyes Inlet or if you want to clean up Clear Creek you have to address the commercial areas that were built and had no stormwater treatment.”

Otherwise, stormwater from about a 27-acre area would not be treated. And business owners were unlikely to do anything to manage stormwater runoff on their own, May said.

“If you’re going to wait for somebody to tear down Ross Plaza or Car Toys and build a whole new place and trigger the stormwater controls you’re going to be waiting a long time. It’s just not going to happen.

“The public benefit of cleaning up the water quality (sooner) is pretty significant.”

May said the $1 million Duwe’iq project could be built in 2016 if it is funded with a grant.

May said stormwater management projects like Duwe’iq are funded via grants from the Washington State Department of Ecology. Ecology provides $61 million in grants over three-year grant cycles and each jurisdiction can apply for up to $5 million in grants. May said Clean Water Kitsap has been successful in getting grants and has at least six active grants. He has applied for a full $5 million worth of grants and hopes the funds come his way.

* Regional stormwater ponds

There are three regional stormwater ponds in place today that act just like Duwe’iq. The regional ponds in the Central Kitsap area are located near the fairgrounds, near Ridgetop in Silverdale and near the Signature town homes across from Northwoods Lodge.

“Back in the old days, when they built much of Silverdale and Ridgetop in the 1980s when the submarine base started up … stormwater (treatment) wasn’t required. So you’ve got a lot of development up there that just really has no stormwater treatment whatsoever. Or it has very minimal treatment,” May said.

“We try to look at areas where we need stormwater or it wasn’t put in originally and then we go and try to fit facilities in.”

* Old Town

At Silverdale’s Old Town, a runoff filter is in place at the end of Byron Avenue. The runoff is filtered through a big concrete vault box filled with a specially-engineered mix of gravel and sand that picks up pollutants. It treats about 10-15 acres worth of runoff that winds up at the end of Byron, May said.

“So all the water that comes down Byron now gets treated before it goes into Dyes Inlet,” May said.

The vehicle turn-around there was also made with permeable pavement so that water that falls on that turn-around will also get filtered.

A sewer line in Old Town that runs along Washington Avenue and Bayshore Avenue will be replaced soon, May said, and when that happens they’ll tag along with the construction crew to install 16 treebox filters. This will treat runoff coming from Old Town that isn’t being treated at the Byron filter.

Treeboxes are another method of cleaning stormwater runoff.

“They’re basically a ‘rain garden in a box’ with a tree or shrub in it, and they have a special soil mix. It’s not regular soil. It’s actually an engineered soil mix,” May said.

Six treebox filters were installed along Silverdale Way and at the Newberry roundabout. More will be added along Mickleberry and Bucklin Hill.

“Works really good, cleans up the water, removes the metals, oils, greases, all that kind of stuff.”

The filtering mix inside treeboxes lasts 10-30 years. Every year at Byron, for example, workers scrape a scum layer that develops on the top. With treeboxes, the top layer of wood chips are sucked out and replaced with fresh chips.

“The media itself is very long-lasting stuff. It basically sequesters those pollutants within that box,” May said.

The removed, dirty material is then treated and transported to Oregon.

* Clear Creek

Another focus area in Silverdale is Clear Creek. Clean Water Kitsap has worked with the road department to remove almost all the blockages on public properties along Clear Creek. Along Sunde Road, the group worked with private property owners to remove a culvert and put in vehicle turn-arounds, a walking trail and a footbridge. It’s a good place to view salmon, May said, and it provides children with easier access to Clear Creek Elementary.

Also on Clear Creek is a floodplain restoration project slated for 2016. This project is located near the Silverdale dog park and Schold Road. May said they’ve received a $2 million grant which will fund two-thirds of the project cost. This will add floodplain habitat for both forks of the creek. The trail will be rerouted and a footbridge will be added and half a mile of road will be removed.

May said the goal was to use the floodplain to increase the amount of soil and vegetation that runoff gets exposed to, thus improving filtration.

“Back in the old days … they farmed and built roads and channelized things.”

Channeled waterways causes runoff to have minimal contact with soil and vegetation, and thus very little filtration occurs.

“That’s just the way things were. We didn’t know any better. We’re going to try and restore that system more closely to its natural system.”

– Dickerson Creek project

In 2015 work will begin on the Dickerson Creek project, which includes culvert removal and floodplain restoration in a wooded area between Taylor Road and David Road, west of Kitsap Golf and Country Club. Concrete walls and a fish ladder will be removed. Woody debris will be added. The project will reduce the danger of flooding and also improve habitat. Work near David Road will be in 2015 and work on Taylor Road will be in 2016.

* Manchester stormwater park

This is a combination of a park and stormwater treatment area. Walking trails and vegetation will surround the pond.

The project was an alternative to putting a big chain-link fence around a pond. As a park-like area, it allows easier access for inspectors as well.

“The days of just caging these facilities I think are pretty much over. That’s kind of a backward way to look at these things,” May said.

Learn more by visiting cleanwaterkitsap.org.