Oil spills can cause lingering damage to our marine ecosystem and can kill the plant life and animals that live there. When the oil reaches the shorelines it can even affect the wildlife there including birds and sea mammals.
The Department of Ecology is about preserving and protecting the environment for future generations. By having options for reporting spills or environmental issues from their homepage you too can help protect our waters.
They also have many dedicated programs that include:
- Air Quality
- Environmental Assessment
- Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction
- Nuclear Waste Program
- Office of Columbia River
If you wish to sign up for their newsletter to stay up to date about any issues or activities, or if you are looking to report any spills, click the button below!
Important Events:
Currently, the Department of Ecology will be doing an outreach campaign this summer to promote the No Discharge Zone. The NDZ is a specified zone within the Puget Sound where vessels are not allowed to release sewage into the waters. To learn more about this you can visit their website in their Water & Shorelines tab.
Puget Sound Nutrient Forum: The Department of Ecology along with Puget Sound stakeholders and tribes seek to reduce the amount of human based nutrients that impact the water quality in the Puget Sound. By monitoring the waters for over 20 years, the Department of Ecology has found that nitrogen levels have increased and the cycle of nutrients are changing. Currently, they aim to meet with the Puget Sound nutrient forum sometime this summer to release a draft called the “Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit”. More information can be found through their Water & Shorelines tab.
BEACH Program: From May 20th through September 2nd (Labor Day), the Department of Ecology is going to sample a variety of beaches to sample for fecal bacteria. You can check out the list of beaches that are being sampled by county from their blog post under what you can do, called “Weigh in on the 2021 beach list”. You can also check beach advisories and closures from the blog post as well if you are looking to go swimming and want to check if your beach is open to swim.