When I was a young boy, my grandfather lived on one of the most productive steelhead and salmon streams in Southwest Washington. I doted on him and spent every minute I could, following him from fishing hole to fishing hole. My dream was to grow up and be a serious fisherman like Grandpa. Like many others, I got caught up in my career and family obligations and found fishing was one dream that got ignored. But I was certain I would get to do lots of it when I retired.

I bought my house in Hansville in 1997 and finally had both the location and time to go fishing. But I was dismayed. Over the years, salmon had been put on the endangered species list and there were no longer the fabled runs that had made Point No Point famous. When I was growing up I never thought I would see a day when the salmon weren’t there any more.

At the same time, bottom fish are limited to one fish per day and being listed as endangered! Bottom fish in Elliott Bay have tumors on their livers because of chemicals in the water. We are warned not to eat Puget Sound salmon more than once per week because of chemicals in their tissue. Hood Canal fish are dying for lack of oxygen in the water. Puget Sound Orcas have incredibly high levels of PCBs in their bodies.

Practically every stream in Kitsap County shows high fecal coliform levels. Oyster and clam beds throughout the county are closed to harvesting because of the pollution.

These images are repeated throughout Puget Sound and Hood Canal.

Puget Sound and the Canal have served as our highways, our food source, our recreation and part of our stunning landscape for generations. They are truly part of our history and culture. Today, they are in danger. We need to understand them and move to protect them if they are to recover and “be there” for our children and grandchildren.

You may have heard about the Puget Sound Partnership created by the 2007 legislature. If you are like me, you probably think there have been plenty of agencies studying Puget Sound and Hood Canal for years. Surely they must have all the answers by now. Surely we don’t need one more organization to complicate things. Or do we?

I represent part of Kitsap County on a committee that advises the Puget Sound Partnership. Here is what I’ve learned.

There have been lots of agencies and studies. The problem is that those studies have been either site-specific (like a single river basin) or species specific (like salmon). Apparently there has never been a single body charged with coordinating all these efforts and looking at the Sound comprehensively.

That’s what the Partnership will do. It will draw all the studies together to see the big picture. It will identify gaps where we need additional information. It will assess the health of the entire Sound and identify the greatest threats to it based on scientific evidence. The Partnership will also build on local efforts of counties, cities, tribes and environmental groups to identify local threats as well.

All of this will be done with plenty of public input. We’ve already held two public sessions in Kitsap County and future sessions will be advertised broadly in the months ahead.

After the Partnership has identified the threats and current efforts to deal with those threats, it will propose an Action Plan by this September aimed at restoring Puget Sound by 2020. The result will be the first really comprehensive, coordinated effort in Washington history to try to repair the damage that has been done to both the Sound and Hood Canal.

One nice thing about the Partnership is that it is required to measure and report the results of its efforts. There will be accountability. This is important because the efforts to clean up the Sound will be costly both in terms of money and, perhaps, in terms of how we live our daily lives. What are some possibilities?

Stormwater runoff carries chemicals, dirt, feces and other contaminants to streams, the Sound and Hood Canal. Population growth will increase the amount of “impervious surface” (roof tops, driveways, roads, etc. that water can’t penetrate) and will increase our runoff. Not only is this bad for our streams and saltwater but it disrupts the natural cycle of recharging our groundwater aquifers, which our county relies on almost entirely for drinking water supplies.

Septic and sewer systems also contribute. Septic systems are great for recharging the aquifer. But we have two problems with them. First, Kitsap County has a huge amount of shoreline and much of it is lined with houses. Many of them are older and their septic systems may not be functioning properly. When this happens, they can discharge harmful effluent into streams and the saltwater.

Our sewer systems discharge millions of gallons of water into Puget Sound. Even though they don’t contain active germs, they do contain chemicals that can’t be good for the Sound. In the long term, we will need to explore more advanced treatment systems and the possibility of discharge into wetlands and streams (rather than directly into the Sound) as a way of enhancing treatment, increasing natural stream flows and recharging aquifers.

It’s impossible to predict right now just what will be contained in the Partnership Action Plan. But we know that we won’t solve the problems we face by continuing our past behaviors. You can learn more about the Puget Sound Partnership at www.psp.wa.gov. I am happy to speak to groups about the local issues affecting the Sound and Hood Canal and the efforts of governments and organizations in the county to protect and restore both of them.

As always, if you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me at sbauer@co.kitsap.wa.us or (360) 337-7146.