Protecting & Preserving Puget Sound
Protecting and preserving the waters of Puget Sound.
Join us for our 17th annual Salute to the Sound Celebration of Clean Water, Gala & Auction! We’ve gone virtual this year, beginning a week of fun and educational online events with our silent auction starting on Monday, October 19, 2020 and wrapping up with a live event on Friday, October 23rd at 7:00pm. Preview online auction items, make your clean water paddle raise gift and set up your bidder profile today. To RSVP and Become a Clean Water Bidder, create your bidder profile by clicking below and then the Start Bidding button. Help support Puget Soundkeeper’s work to protect and preserve the waters of Puget Sound by joining us – tickets are FREE!
Read the latest information about our Clean Water Act enforcement, water quality monitoring, on-water patrols and volunteer activities.
Puget Soundkeeper’s Lost Urban Creeks Project empowers youth to advocate for healthy waterways in their communities through cleanups, restoration, and water quality monitoring. Watch the interns present their scientific findings and provide recommendations to restore Springbrook Creek.
Every year Puget Soundkeeper’s Inspiration Award recognizes a local leader, individual or group that inspires others to take action for clean water. Our Youth Inspiration Award is specifically given to a youth-led organization, whose work to protect our waterways includes, empowers, and inspires youth to take charge of their future by being active participants in protecting the health of their marine environment. We are pleased to announce the 2020 Inspiration Award recipients:
Senator Mona Das and the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps!
Puget Soundkeeper has worked to address the risks of catastrophic oil spills for many years, with a focus on oil transportation safety, in an effort to protect our waters and marine life by preventing the devastating effects of an oil spill.
After a great deal of thought and reflection during what has been an extraordinarily tumultuous and challenging year, I have decided to focus on my family and loved ones, and will be stepping down as Puget Soundkeeper and Executive Director. Though my role will change, I will continue to wholeheartedly support the work of Puget Soundkeeper. I am confident that Puget Soundkeeper is in good hands and will continue to be a leading voice for protecting and preserving the waters of Puget Sound.
Yesterday, Puget Soundkeeper and Seattle Iron & Metals Corp. filed an amended consent decree in the US District Court after SIMC failed to meet pollution control deadlines established in an initial settlement filed last year. To protect the health and welfare of Duwamish Valley residents impacted by air and water pollution from SIMC’s operations, Soundkeeper and SIMC negotiated a new agreement which requires SIMC to pay an additional $90,000 to community organizations to fund local restoration and pollution mitigation work.
Polluted stormwater run-off is the number one threat to the Puget Sound. One major contributor to stormwater pollution is and stormwater from construction sites, which can convey muddy water, debris, and toxic chemicals into our waterways. Soundkeeper believes the permit could be strengthened through language changes and clarifications, the elimination of a testing exemption for sites smaller than one acre, and creating a requirement for reporting hazardous chemicals stored on site to Ecology.