The Hood. For those who are city transplants to Kitsap County’s rural areas or just watch too much Spike Lee, the word typically carries a negative connotation and conjures up images of concrete jungle living at its worst.

In North Kitsap, our own Hood is getting a bad rap as well but due to its low oxygen levels and poor health, it is one that is deserved.

Due to various reasons, the majority of them human in cause, the Hood Canal is dying a slow death. And the only ones able to save it are those living in the counties that affect it. Kitsap is among them.

Last week, officials from 1,000 Friends of Washington, People for Puget Sound and Washington Conservation Voters met with the North Kitsap Herald Advisory Board to discuss their “Sound Solutions” plan.

While they are not the only factor, failing septic systems were identified as the canal’s primary pollution source, according to a preliminary environmental report that is being compiled by the University of Washington. Concerns were voiced that using an unfinished study to set policy was unwise, but the majority of the board agreed that the health of Hood Canal needs as much help as it can get and as soon as it can get it.

“Sound Solutions was prompted by the crisis in the Hood Canal,” said Kathy Fletcher, executive director of People for Puget Sound, noting that low oxygen levels were transforming the waterway into a dead zone.

“Crisis” is the correct word to describe the status of the canal and we concur with Tim Trohimovich of 1,000 Friends that “We’ve tried Band-Aids and they don’t work.” If they did, the situation of the canal would be much different.

Sound Solutions aims to:

1) Enhance state authority to control on-site septic systems by creating clear regulations and tools to assist local governments in developing solutions.

2) Strengthen protection of watershed and water quality. New objectives and direction would be created by the state for local governments, which would, in turn, work more closely with residents to identify and assist problem areas. A bonus of this program would be tax incentives for voluntary shoreline conservation efforts.

3) Create a stable funding source. This is where the plan will likely hit the biggest legislative potholes. Getting money from the state often makes getting blood from a turnip appear simple.

The consensus was that improving the health of Hood Canal was well worth the try.

The Select Committee on Hood Canal agreed with this assessment as well and moved forward with House Bill 1060, which will create an “Aquatic Rehabilitation Zone,” if accepted by the Legislature. Our own Rep. Sherry Appleton D-Poulsbo co-sponsored this one.

Supporters of Sound Solutions aren’t deluding themselves. They know without the state on board, the plan is dead in the water — or as dead as the Hood Canal waters could be in a few years, as the case may be.

Even so, with the Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife already working toward this end to some degree, concerns were expressed by the board that Sound Solutions would simply add another layer to the bureaucracy. In the end, the majority of the advisory board didn’t see it that way.

We feel this “septic legislation” would set parameters that would allow state government to better work with county governments and county governments, in turn, to work directly with citizens toward plausible solutions. It’s the first step on a long road, but one that must be taken before it’s too late. Kitsap County is forever tied to water and as one of our advisory board members summed up, “We all benefit from a healthy Hood Canal.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.