In partnership with the Darrington town council, the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe's Natural Resources Department is monitoring stormwater runoff into the Sauk River. With a General Assistance Program grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the tribe bought an automatic sampler to collect runoff during storm events.
TULALIP – Stormwater runoff from the parking lots and playfield at Tulalip Elementary runs directly into Tulalip Bay. Traveling through conventional drains and pipes, at times seeping over the sidewalk onto Totem Beach Road, the water potentially picks up and carries pollutants.
At the nearby Boys and Girls Club, the lack of drainage results in a parking lot pond when it rains.
As an alternative to conventional stormwater detention methods, the Tulalip Tribes are turning to low impact development (LID) to improve water quality and fix several drainage problems. The tribes’ Natural Resources Department is engineering wetlands to absorb stormwater and filter out pollutants before it drains into the bay. (more…)