Campaigning for clean water and a healthy environment for humans and wildlife
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Ecology’s current work to address 6PPD and 6PPD-quinone (6PPDQ) is highlighted below. This update includes current agency actions. Contact us at 6PPD@ecy.wa.gov.
Momentum Builds for Solutions to Tire Wear Pollution: Last month, Ecology hosted a virtual 6PPD State of the Science Forum, connecting researchers, policy practitioners, and partners from across the globe to share knowledge and accelerate progress.
Continue reading “6PPD Update – January 2026”January 27, 2026
Puget Soundkeeper
Link to My Edmonds News article
Since 2015, Puget Soundkeeper has monitored coho salmon health in Seattle’s Longfellow Creek, producing data on the impacts of urban pollution on salmon survival. For years, Longfellow Creek has been the epicenter of research studying the effects of 6PPD-quinone — a toxic tire chemical lethal to coho salmon.
According to a Puget Soundkeeper news release, exposure to 6PPD-quinone causes a condition called Urban Runoff Mortality Syndrome (URMS), a disease characterized by symptoms such as disorientation and gasping for air, often killing coho within 24 hours. Furthermore, this chemical has been strongly linked to Pre-Spawn Mortality (PSM), where adult salmon die before successfully reproducing, the news release said.
Puget Soundkeeper’s annual Pre-Spawn Mortality Survey analyzes the spawning success of coho salmon in Longfellow Creek to better understand the impacts of 6PPD-quinone. From October through December, trained volunteers count and dissect returning coho salmon, particularly assessing the presence of eggs and milt to determine whether spawning was successful.
Results from the 2025 study show that 55.5% of coho salmon died before spawning. This aligns with data collected since 2015, which shows that 49-90% of returning salmon die before reproducing each year.
“This level of pre-spawn mortality is devastating,” said Ewan Henderson, clean water program specialist at Puget Soundkeeper. “The dramatic reduction in successful spawning opportunities is a huge blow to our ecosystems, particularly for our resident orcas who already face major challenges as their food sources dwindle.”
According to the press release, Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects, such as rain gardens or bioswales, can effectively remove toxins from runoff and prevent harmful chemicals from entering local waters. In addition to GSI projects, a bill (HB 2421) aimed at removing 6PPD from tires was introduced to the Washington State House and Senate Environment Committees last week.
Puget Soundkeeper will be recruiting the next cohort of salmon surveyors in August. More information will be made available on their website.
To learn more about the 2025 Salmon Survey report results, visit pugetsoundkeeper.org/volunteer/salmon-surveys.
By Jeff Rice
Puget Sound Institute
Published January 9, 2026
Link to Puget Sound Institute, UW Tacoma article
Untold numbers of hatchery fish may be dying from exposure to tire-contaminated runoff, according to a new study.
Continue reading “Study finds juvenile coho salmon at risk from deadly tire chemical”By Teresa Wippel
January 7, 2026
Link to My Edmonds News article
Key takeaways:
Edmonds is considering delaying updates to a section of the ordinance that would restrict stormwater wells near its drinking water aquifer.
by Eliza Aronson
January 3, 2026
Link to Everett Herald article
EDMONDS — The Edmonds Environmental Council and Olympic View Water & Sewer District have raised concerns regarding revisions to the city’s Critical Areas Ordinance, warning that a delay in updating policy surrounding underground stormwater wells could cause the city drinking water to become contaminated.
Continue reading “Delay on Critical Areas Ordinance update draws criticism from groups”December 30, 2025
Continue reading “Critical Areas Ordinance Update – EEC Press Release”Call to Action and CAO update status
By John Brock, EEC Board member
December 29, 2025
On July 18, 2025, the Edmonds Environmental Council (EEC) hosted a workshop at the Port of Edmonds to discuss how the organization should engage with the City of Edmonds. Participants expressed concern that the City was not adequately advancing the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) update required by the end of 2025. Based on that discussion, the EEC decided to engage constructively.
Continue reading “EEC Engagement on the Critical Areas Ordinance Update”By Joe Scordino
Edmonds Environmental Council
Posted Thursday, December 25, 2025
Link to Edmonds Beacon article
We have a serious human health issue brewing in Edmonds at the Deer Creek CARA (Critical Aquifer Recharge Area), which provides drinking water to south Edmonds, Woodway, and Esperance. The issue is accommodating potential development instead of avoiding contaminating our drinking water with PFAS – a pervasive, forever chemical known to have serious human health effects.
Believe it or not, the City actually wants to allow new development to inject potentially toxic stormwater (containing forever chemicals, PFAS, carcinogenic pollutants, etc.) into the Deer Creek drinking water Aquifer.
And why?
Continue reading “Is development in Edmonds more important than safe drinking water?”By Joe Scordino
December 22, 2025
Link to article from My Edmonds News
We have a serious human health issue “brewing” in Edmonds on potential stormwater contamination of drinking water for southern Edmonds, Woodway and Esperance residents. The issue is accommodating potential development instead of avoiding health impacts caused by Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)-contaminated drinking water.
Continue reading “Readers view: Is development in Edmonds more important than safe drinking water?”By Andrew J.B. Cohen, PhD
New Jersey Institute of Technology
February 16, 2021
Presented at the Hugo Neu New Corporation Sustainability Seminar Series
Stevens Institute of Technology
By Clinton Wright
December 14, 2025
Link to My Edmonds News article
An urgent warning to the good people of Edmonds, my adopted home town and former residence of over 40 years.
Continue reading “Reader view: Updated critical areas ordinance threatens water quality”by Hadeer Saleh, Dibyendu Sarkar, Zhiming Zhang, Michel Boufadel, and Rupali Datta.
Urban stormwater runoff is increasingly recognized as a critical but underexplored pathway for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to enter aquatic environments. This work investigated the occurrence and behavior of 40 PFAS compounds in stormwater runoff entering a roadside rain garden in Secaucus, New Jersey, during six storm events between August 2023 and July 2024. Total PFAS concentrations (Σ40 PFAS) ranged from 1437 to 1615 ng/L, with perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS, 239–303 ng/L) and perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA, 115–137 ng/L) consistently emerging as dominant species. Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSAs) together accounted for over 70% of the total PFAS mass. Despite its intended role in water quality improvement, the rain garden showed no measurable change in PFAS concentrations (differences of only 0.03–1.10%). These findings highlight the persistence and mobility of PFAS in urban stormwater runoff and the limited efficacy of conventional green infrastructure in mitigating PFAS contamination. Furthermore, they underscore the ineffectiveness of conventional green infrastructure for PFAS mitigation and the urgent need for advanced treatment technologies integrated into urban water management frameworks.
By Greg Ferguson and Jane O’Dell
December 6, 2025
Link to My Edmonds News article
On Oct. 16, a group of Edmonds-Woodway High School students with the Students Saving Salmon Club were performing routine water quality testing in Shellabarger Creek when they saw something disturbing: a young coho smolt swimming weakly on its side. On the shore nearby was another dead coho smolt.
Continue reading “Reader view: Dead coho in Shellabarger Creek — was stormwater runoff to blame?”By Brian Soergel
Edmondseditor@yourbeacon.net
Posted Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Link to Edmonds Beacon article
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has granted the City of Edmonds an expedited permit allowing crews to begin debris-clearing work at the city’s controversial flow-diversion structure on lower Perrinville Creek – a move that environmental advocates say again sidesteps long-standing legal and safety obligations.
Continue reading “Perrinville Creek: Critics accuse Edmonds of skirting environmental law”The permit is the latest controversy in the years-long saga over Edmonds’ management of the stream.
November 17, 2025
Link to Everett Herald article
EDMONDS — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a new permit to the city of Edmonds on Friday, allowing flood-prevention work to commence at a controversial flow diversion structure on Perrinville Creek.
Continue reading “State approves Edmonds permit to do flood mitigation work on Perrinville Creek”