Water and Tissue analyses (Stormwater mitigation effectiveness)

Numerous low impact development (LID; green infrastructure) technologies are being developed and implemented to reduce the impacts of toxic stormwater runoff on aquatic habitats. Examples include permeable pavements, rain gardens, green roofs, soil mesocosms, and other approaches. NOAA and other federal agencies need to know which of these strategies are effective, scalable, and most appropriate for myriad decisionmaking contexts (e.g., ESA consultations involving federal highway projects in the western US).

To this end, Ecotox is investigating LID effectiveness in collaboration with the USFWS and WSU, at WSU's new multi-million dollar stormwater research facility in Puyallup. Ongoing project work is funded by the EPA, USFWS, and the NOAA Coastal Storms Progam. In addition to the NWR, key end-users for the science include other federal agencies, state agencies (e.g., the Puget Sound Partnership, Ecology), municipalities (e.g., the City of Seattle), tribal organizations, science educators, and the public. Analyses of water and tissue for chemistry (e.g. pH) and contaminants (e.g. metals).