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.
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 Critical Area. And why? It’s because the City doesn’t have stormwater pipes in parts of the Deer Creek Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas (CARA) for developers to connect to. You’d think the situation would be the same as sewer pipes – – if City pipes aren’t present, the developer has to pay to have them installed if they want to build at that site.
However, the City’s contract attorney is actually telling the City Council if they don’t allow the injection of stormwater into the drinking water aquifer (regardless of the human safety risks), they might be sued by a developer who might claim such a critical area restriction might be a constitutional “taking.” Sounds pretty speculative especially since the Cornell Law School Legal Information institute’s website on “Takings” states: “Even if a regulation amounts to a taking, it may be upheld if it serves a valid public health or safety goal” (see www.law.cornell.edu/wex/takings). I’d argue that state law is very clear that development can and should be restricted where necessary to protect public health and safety – and the City should not be making “bad” decisions based on potential “frivolous” developer lawsuit threats.
So now, since the City’s contract attorney is not providing appropriate legal advice and Public Works staff are avoiding the facts about stormwater filtering, the burden falls on us — the affected citizens — to educate our City Councilmembers on the facts, the science and the law:
- The facts about PFAS in stormwater and serious health impacts.
- About “Best Available Science” (WAC Chapter 365-195) that must be used to decide necessary protections.
- About WAC 365-196-830 that requires Edmonds to protect the Deer Creek CARA for “preservation of the functions and values of the natural environment, or to safeguard the public from hazards to health and safety.”
- About the “Precautionary Principle” in state law (WAC 365-195-920) and what it prescribes when there is scientific uncertainty or need for more information (i.e., “development and land use activities are strictly limited” until additional best available science suggests otherwise).
Factual information about the Deer Creek CARA, stormwater, PFAS, state and federal standards, and critical area regulations can be accessed at edmondsenvironmentalcouncil.org/deer-creek or at the Olympic View Water and Sewer District’s website at www.olympicviewwater.com/pfas.
I encourage residents to email council@edmondswa.gov and brad.shipley@edmondswa.gov before Dec. 31 so that your comments will be placed in the briefing material for the City Council’s Jan. 6 public hearing. You could also make verbal comments at the public hearing.
It will be important for the Council and the Mayor to hear that the safety of human health is far more important than new development in an area (Deer Creek CARA) designated as a “critical area” specifically to protect the drinking water it produces (i.e., bad place for City to be encouraging new development since it is a “protected” drinking water aquifer).