TagWater Quality(478)

Community meeting notes from the Highline area (near Sea-Tac) capture neighborhood group responses to questions about urban streams and stormwater management. Residents from areas including Des Moines, North Hill, Shorewood, and Riverton Heights expressed strong opposition to traditional drainage solutions such as culverts and concrete channels, citing harm to water balance, wildlife, and quality of life. Groups broadly favored preserving natural streams for recreational, aesthetic, and ecological benefits, while debating appropriate levels of public access.

This document assesses the ecological functions of wetlands and aquatic resources in the Miller Creek and related basins near Sea-Tac Airport, evaluating their roles in water quality, flood storage, and wildlife habitat. Wetlands in the Runway Safety Area and Vacca Farm areas are rated across functions such as nutrient trapping, groundwater exchange, and habitat for fish, waterfowl, amphibians, and small mammals. The assessment finds that interconnected wetland complexes like Lake Reba provide high-value flood attenuation and baseflow support for Miller Creek, while farmed wetlands perform at lower functional levels due to sparse vegetation and agricultural runoff.

This document is an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit fact sheet for Sea-Tac International Airport, issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology. It details the locations of numerous water discharge outfalls across the airport property, covering industrial wastewater, stormwater from industrial activities, and stormwater from construction activities. The discharges flow into several local waterways including Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, Walker Creek, Gilliam Creek, and Puget Sound.

The Pollution Control Hearings Board ruled largely in favor of community groups ACC and CASE in their challenge to Sea-Tac Airport's water pollution permit, ordering stricter wastewater treatment standards and rejecting most of the Port's appeals. Key victories included requiring the airport to meet long-overdue water quality standards for its industrial wastewater discharged into Puget Sound, mandating improved toxicity testing during de-icing season, and directing a professional wetlands analysis of Lake Reba. Of the seven final directives issued by the Board, six favored the community appellants and only one favored the Port.

This document explains the Washington State Department of Ecology's review process for Sea-Tac Airport's applications to fill wetlands as part of its third runway project. Sea-Tac submitted three separate applications between 1996 and 2000, with the third ultimately receiving a Section 401 water-quality certificate that was later put on hold after the Airport Communities Coalition appealed. The Pollution Control Hearings Board identified three key concerns driving the stay: contaminated fill material, insufficient water rights for dry-season stream flow, and inadequate wetlands mitigation plans.

This document lists 16 permit conditions related to environmental protections at what appears to be a Port development project, showing which conditions were accepted and which were appealed. Conditions covering stormwater management, wetland mitigation, fill criteria, and water quality monitoring were contested, with 8 of the 16 conditions formally appealed. Accepted conditions include stormwater sampling, wetland hydroperiod matching, and long-term contamination monitoring requirements.

A Sierra Club special report critiques Washington Governor Gary Locke's environmental record, with particular focus on the SeaTac Third Runway project, where Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons allegedly removed staff who sought to enforce environmental laws and signed the 'Toxic Fill Bill' allowing contaminated materials to be used in runway construction. The report details how the Port of Seattle's $1 billion-plus runway expansion required building one of the world's largest retaining walls over fish-bearing streams and wetlands in an earthquake-prone area. The Pollution Control Hearings Board ultimately found state permits insufficient and imposed 16 additional environmental conditions on the project.

This NPDES permit fact sheet for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport details the locations and receiving waterways for all stormwater and industrial wastewater discharge outfalls at the facility. It covers three categories of discharge: industrial wastewater flowing to Puget Sound, stormwater from industrial activities flowing to local waterways such as Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, and Northwest Pond, and stormwater from construction activities discharged to Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, Walker Creek, and Gilliam Creek. The document lists both existing and future planned outfall locations with precise latitude and longitude coordinates for each discharge point.