Ecology Priorities > Saving Puget Sound > Water Quality Activities

Puget Sound Water Quality Activities

Puget Sound needs our help. Toxic chemicals are concentrating in the water and entering the food chain. Low oxygen levels caused by nitrogen discharged from septic tanks, sewage treatment plants and other sources are threatening the Sound. The water quality program is working to prevent water pollution, clean up water pollution to restore aquatic habitat, and help communities make sustainable choices.

Dissolved Oxygen in Puget Sound

Information on what Ecology's Water Quality program is doing to investigate dissolved oxygen and nutrient issues in Puget Sound.

• South Puget Sound Dissolved Oxygen Study - started collecting data in 2006. It focuses on the southern part of Puget Sound.
• Sound-Wide Dissolved Oxygen Model - a new project that extends the work on the South Sound to the rest of Puget Sound.
• Technical and Economic Evaluation of Nutrient Removal Technologies - a new project focused on nutrient removal at wastewater treatment plants. For more information, see Focus on Wastewater Discharges.

Puget Sound Coordinated Monitoring Program

Information on the Puget Sound Coordinated Monitoring Program.  The goal of this effort is to provide credible and useful information about the Puget Sound Basin’s freshwater and marine environments and aquatic habitat.

Control of Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound

Information on how the results of studies of toxic loadings to Puget Sound are being used to help guide decisions about how to most effectively direct resources to resolve toxic contamination issues.

Puget Sound Initiative (PSI) Site Cleanups

In response to the Puget Sound Initiative and increased funding, Ecology has accelerated its efforts to clean and restore contaminated sites within identified priority bays. These areas are the cornerstones of Ecology's approach to protect and restore Puget Sound.