“Dirty Waters”: Tacoma Clean-up Spurs Marine Research
Originally published at christopherhord.com. Please leave any comments there.
Yesterday, it was announced by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire that many of the state’s efforts to clean up the Puget Sound waterways will be based out of Tacoma. It was just the latest step in a remarkable turnaround for a city that was once somewhat-synonymous with water pollution.
Gregoire announced that the Puget Sound Partnership will open an office in the City of Tacoma’s Urban Waters marine research center on Thea Foss Waterway. The satellite office will operate in close proximity to Tacoma’s environmental services division labs and University of Washington-Tacoma (UWT) research labs.
In 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the Thea Foss and Wheeler-Osgood waterways as part of the larger 12-acre Commencement Bay Superfund site. The Superfund sites were a handful of sites highlighted by the EPA as the most polluted industrial zones in the US. The designation was well-earned. After all, ihe waterway has been the site of industry for more than 100 years. The City of Tacoma literally grew up from the waterfront, where the deep-water port and western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad attracted business and the employees to work them.
In 1994, the City of Tacoma volunteered and took the lead to develop a clean up plan for the Thea Foss and Wheeler-Osgood waterways. The cleanup bill for work led by the City of Tacoma from 1994 through the 2006 completion, as well as some monitoring afterward, added up to more than $90 million.
Under a plan accepted by the EPA, the City cleaned up 80 percent of the Foss-an area extending from near the SR 509 Bridge to the mouth of the waterway. This area also includes the small Wheeler-Osgood Waterway. A group of private companies-Puget Sound Energy and PacifiCorp-cleaned up the other 20 percent, an area extending just north of the SR 509 Bridge to the head of the waterway.
In the process, the city became the center of leading reclamation research performed by the EPA, Port of Tacoma, UWT and other groups.
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