Thornton Creek Begins at North Seattle: Managing Stormwater Runoff

1. Project Description : • Long term goal: • Manage 100% of NSCC stormwateron campus. Potential annual savings of $40K • Reduce pollutant s in Thornton Creek • Short term goal: • Test & monitor stormwater pollutants • Set benchmarks for stormwater volume and quality • Group Members & Roles: • Daniel Gannon: stormwater sampling/equipment • Sasha Glenn: stormwatersampling/documentation Stormwater runoff is naturally filtered NSCC Lake, the beginning of Thornton Creek What is Stormwater Runoff? Stormwatercomes from precipitation and is naturally filtered by soaking into porous surfaces such as undeveloped land and fields. An impervious surface is a surface that cannot absorb water such as concrete or roof tops. When stormwaterflows onto impervious surfaces it builds up and collects pollutants as it flows into a common area before being drained into a larger body of surface water such as the sound, the ocean, streams and lakes. This is known as surface runoff.  Because the water is not absorbed into the ground, it bypasses the natural filtration process before entering the water body. Anything on the ground here at North, ends up in stormwaterrunoff, and ultimately in Thornton Creek. Surface runoff pollution is categorized as non-point source, meaning everyone contributes to it and it will take some out of the box thinking to deal with the issue. Many of the pollutants that end up in stormwater come from sources and products used in our everyday lives. If NSCC can manage 100% of it's stormwateron campus we may be able to save $40,000 through tax credits per year. This would make a big impact considering the recent budget cuts to higher education. Besides the benefit of saving $$ we would be reducing our negative impact on the important local ecosystem that is Thornton Creek. Upper parking lots drain into a detention pond Thornton Creek Begins at North Seattle:Managing Stormwater Runoff Stormwater from parking lot drains directly to lake Thornton Creek The Thornton Creek Watershed is the largest in Seattle and Shoreline, covering 11.6 miles. The headwaters of the south fork begin at NSCC, then travel underneath the freeway and Northgate mall, ultimately emptying into Lake Washington at Matthews Beach. Thornton Creek is home to many plant and animal species and is one of Seattle's few remaining valued natural habitats which is why it is crucial that we lessen our impact to the best of our abilities. Sources: www.cityofbremerton.com/content/sw_stormwaterrunoff.html http://www.homewatersproject.org/index.html http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/stormwater.aspx http://www.jstor.org/stable/2678644 Get Involved! Students interested in in stormwater management or other sustainability projects on campus should contact NSCC’s Sustainability Coordinator: Christian Rusby - crusby@sccd.ctc.edu