Who's polluting our water?
All of us know that industrial facilities, toxic waste
dumps, oil tankers and pipelines often create environmental
problems. What many people don't know however is that a
significant amount of pollution to our air and water is
caused by smaller "nonpoint" sources, such as households,
small businesses, and community organizations and agencies.
Nonpoint source pollution is our Nation's leading source of
water quality degradation. It's the main reason that
approximately 40 percent of our surveyed rivers, lakes, and
estuaries are not clean enough for basic uses such as
fishing or swimming.
How does it happen?
Natural landscapes like forests, wetlands, and grasslands
trap rainwater and snowmelt and allow it to slowly seep
through the ground, cooling the water and filtering out
pollution. In contrast, nonporous urban landscapes like
roads, bridges, parking lots, and buildings don't let runoff
slowly percolate into the ground. Water remains above the
surface, accumulates, and runs off quickly in large amounts.
Cities install storm sewer systems that quickly channel this
runoff from roads and other impervious surfaces to nearby
water bodies. Water entering storm drains carries pollutants
such as sediment from development and new construction; oil,
grease, and toxic chemicals from business activities and
automobiles; nutrients and pesticides from turf management
and gardening; viruses and bacteria from failing septic
systems; and heavy metals. This polluted runoff is usually
released directly into creeks and streams without any
treatment, harming fish and wildlife populations, killing
native vegetation, fouling drinking water supplies, and
making recreational areas unsafe.
What is the
Whatcom Watersheds Pledge?
This program provides citizens and businesses in Whatcom
County, Washington with information about how they can
protect and improve rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater.
Program activities include:
- sampling surface and groundwater bodies to identify
pollutants and their sources,
- educational outreach to reduce pollution from
households, businesses and community institutions,
- preserving and restoring habitat critical to aquatic
life.
What can you do?
 The
Whatcom Watersheds Pledge helps you learn what you can do at
home and on the job to prevent water pollution and asks you
to take a personal pledge to do your part. Already,
nearly 600 businesses and 1000 households in Whatcom
County have taken the pledge. Institutions that have
pledged include the Cities of Bellingham and Everson, the
Mt. Baker School District and the Washington State
Department of Ecology's Bellingham Field Office.
Learn about pollution from residential sources and
take the
Residential Pledge
online
Learn how businesses can prevent pollution and find
out how you can take the
Business Pledge
The following agencies and organizations have participated
in carrying out various elements of the Whatcom Watersheds Pledge
program:
- City of Bellingham
- Department of Public Works, Environmental Resources
Division
- Fire Department
- City of Bellingham / Whatcom County Disposal of Toxics
- City of Blaine
- City of Everson
- City of Sumas
- Nooksack Valley Recycling and Disposal
- Port of Bellingham
- RE Sources
- Sanitary Services Corporation
- Sustainable Connections
- WA Department of Ecology:
- Bellingham Field Office
- NWRO Hazardous Waste Program
- NWRO Spill Response and Planning Program
- NWRO Water Quality Program
- Whatcom County:
- Health and Human Services Department
- Public Works, Solid Waste Division
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