On a rainy day in Manchester Nov. 6, a cluster of people gathered to celebrate completion of Kitsap County’s stormwater retrofit project.

The park has been named qaqad, which translated means “a place to dry clams,” and will serve as a stormwater purification area for runoff from more than 80 acres of surrounding land.

Kitsap County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who hosted the event, ceremoniously cut the ribbon to formally open the park to the public.

“I felt that it was a really important thing for us to attend to,” she said.

The project took shape in 2009 after the Stormwater Advisory Committee was established at the request of the Manchester community.

“We have worked toward this for a long time,” Garrido said. “The planets began to align for Kitsap County to design and install this stormwater facility.”

As the area became available and new technology emerged, Kitsap County’s stormwater division was able to use those factors to designthe state-of-the-art facility.

“There’s not another one like this one anywhere,” Garrido said.

“I appreciate that and I appreciate the work they put in to it.”

Public Works Director Andrew Nelson also spoke at the event, explaining how the park works to purify runoff from the hill in Manchester, sending clean water back to Puget Sound.

“I’ve mentioned a number of the goals of this project. They were to improve stormwater treatment and address water quality,” he said.

“We also took advantage of the project to address some of the traffic and safety issues for pedestrians and bicycles here in the downtown area.”

The finished project achieves those goals in many ways. One example is the spiral rain garden, which is the focal point of the park. Water that typically flows off the hillside is collected and treated through this facility.

Then every half-hour, one cell of the three-cell spiral walls releases its water charge through rocks located on the sides of the figure. It then filters the water through the spiral, putting clean water back in to Puget Sound.

“By using a bio-retention soil mix for the plants that are in there, that spiral rain garden filters and treats the sediment that’s in the water as well as pollutants such as chemicals, oils and fuels that come out of our cars — and even pet waste that’s on the hillside,” Nelson said.

This state-of-the-art facility will purify more than 90 percent of all toxins in the water runoff, and that’s a minimum.

“I think that you’ve been hearing a theme that says, ‘Kitsap County has been leading the way in the Pacific Northwest by using innovative new techniques to improve water quality,’” Nelson said.

“The county adopted a policy a few years ago of treating water as a resource. And that’s a very important concept that’s included in this project as well.”

At the Nov. 6 celebration, fourth-graders from Manchester Elementary performed a reading and a song they had prepared.

Afterward, members of the Suquamish tribe performed a blessing song before Garrido cut the ribbon, officially opening the park to the community.