PCB source tracing in storm drains in the Lower Duwamish Waterway

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has been tracking PCBs in City-owned storm drains that discharge to the Lower Duwamish Waterway for the past 10 years. Source tracing efforts have utilized samples of sediment that has accumulated in drainage pipes and associated structures (e.g., catch basins, maintenance holes, and vaults) to identify sources of contaminants to the system. This presentation will provide a few source tracing success stories and describe lessons learned by SPU

Analysis of policy and educational approaches within the Seattle recycling program

This study aims to deepen our understanding of the policy and educational approaches within the Seattle, Washington residential recycling program. Through an analysis of Seattle\u27s policy approaches and the role of education, this study makes recommendations for both its improvement and other communities looking to bolster and or implement their own recycling program. To guide the recommendations, it was necessary to find how a recycling program can target a broad audience to create more awareness and reach those in the community that have not been involved. Straughan (1999) noted that the success of a community\u27s\u27 recycling program relies on the effectiveness of its citizenry\u27s knowledge and education on recycling. Using instructional design as the lens of analysis, this study investigated how Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) used electronic and paper-based educational materials to informally educate the community about recycling within the Seattle recycling program. This study also analyzed the policy approaches of Seattle\u27s formal and informal practices (such as city legislature) constructed to prioritize recycling within the city. The policy analysis revealed Seattle\u27s major policy approaches are focused in the policy areas of operations, administration, and finance and are key to Seattle\u27s recycling program and Seattle\u27s continued success in waste-stream diversion. The results of the content analysis revealed that the educational documents and materials have a strong educational purpose. Recommendations for policy suggest communities looking to strengthen or augment their current practices could focus on the areas of operations, administration, and finance when considering direction for policy options to fit their own community\u27s needs. Education-related recommendations for communities suggest creating informal educational documents and materials making use of and following sound instructional and visual design principles. Education-related recommendations for Seattle include communicating the users\u27 participation in the city\u27s recycling program as benefiting not only them, but also a larger audience

Connecting Urban Residents to Their Watershed with Green Stormwater Infrastructure: A case study of Thornton Creek in Seattle, Washington

Connecting Urban Residents to Their Watersheds with Green Stormwater Infrastructure: A case study of Thornton Creek in Seattle, Washington

Landscape Ecotoxicology of Coho Salmon Spawner Mortality in Urban Streams

In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) returning from the ocean to spawn in urban basins of the Puget Sound region have been prematurely dying at high rates (up to 90% of the total runs) for more than a decade. The current weight of evidence indicates that coho deaths are caused by toxic chemical contaminants in land-based runoff to urban streams during the fall spawning season. Non-point source pollution in urban landscapes typically originates from discrete urban and residential land use activities. In the present study we conducted a series of spatial analyses to identify correlations between land use and land cover (roadways, impervious surfaces, forests, etc.) and the magnitude of coho mortality in six streams with different drainage basin characteristics. We found that spawner mortality was most closely and positively correlated with the relative proportion of local roads, impervious surfaces, and commercial property within a basin. These and other correlated variables were used to identify unmonitored basins in the greater Seattle metropolitan area where recurrent coho spawner die-offs may be likely. This predictive map indicates a substantial geographic area of vulnerability for the Puget Sound coho population segment, a species of concern under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Our spatial risk representation has numerous applications for urban growth management, coho conservation, and basin restoration (e.g., avoiding the unintentional creation of ecological traps). Moreover, the approach and tools are transferable to areas supporting coho throughout western North America

2002 Projects Day Booklet

https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/projects-day/1017/thumbnail.jp

2001 Projects Day Booklet

https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/projects-day/1016/thumbnail.jp

2004 Projects Day Booklet

https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/projects-day/1019/thumbnail.jp

2005 Projects Day Booklet

https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/projects-day/1020/thumbnail.jp