The Near Term Future of Stormwater Management to Protect Watersheds across Puget Sound

1. The Near Term Future of Stormwater Management to Protect Watershedsacross Puget Sound Michael Rylko Puget Sound National Estuary Program USEPA Region 10 WSU Stormwater Center Workshop January 31, 2018

2. Some key questions behind this presentation: How do we organize ourselves as practitioners, representing distinct programs, to identify and then work towards common watershed goals and objectives? How do we effectively integrate necessary geographic scales of stormwater management to protect common resources? How do we organize and develop our technical information and basis for improving the effectiveness of how we manage stormwater, across watershed scales, with the objective of protecting beneficial uses? How do we measure the cumulative progress of our program and initiative efforts at both watershed and regional scales?

3. Outline: Key elements and roles of the Action Agenda. Action Agenda Strategic Initiative Implementation Strategies and Stormwater Management. Assessing and prioritizing geographic scales of watershed management and characterizing the importance and level of degradation of comparable watersheds. A Puget Sound Implementation Strategy for Stormwater - Stream Benthic Invertebrates – BIBI – including the types of actions that should be prioritized.

4. Stormwater Strategic Initiative Team: Derek Day, ECY Ron McBride, ECY Gary Meyers, ECY Doug Peters, Commerce Linda Bentley, Commerce Tanyalee Erwin, WSC Heidi Siegelbaum, WSC John Stark, WSC With guidance and technical assistance from: Elene Trujillo, PSP Kari Stiles, PSP Andy James, PSI Kate Macneale, King Co.

5. The Puget Sound Action Agenda is our region's shared roadmap for the recovery of the Puget Sound ecosystem: • The Action Agenda outlines the regional strategies and specific actions needed to more effectively protect and restore Puget Sound and it’s contributing watersheds. • The Comprehensive Plan charts the course for how we organize and support the long-term protection and recovery of Puget Sound: • Integrates strategic regional and local processes & approaches • Strategic Initiatives provide a base for initiating work (Stormwater; Habitat protection/restoration; Chinook recovery*; Shellfish bed upgrades) • The Action Agenda Implementation Plan is the action component of the Action Agenda: • Implementation Strategies for priority recovery targets • Near Term Actions • Ongoing programs

6. The Stormwater Strategic Initiative is working with one of the largest issues facing the recovery of the greater Puget Sound ecosystem and its contributing local watersheds. • Stormwater runoff can quickly result in shifts in hydrology that affect water storage, localized flows and downstream flooding. • Runoff from impervious developed lands including highways and roads is the largest source of chemicals that are most toxic to fish. • Stormwater runoff also affects physical habitat functions of streams supporting the health of aquatic biological communities.

7. What is an Implementation Strategy? • Develops basis and supporting information to guide implementation programs and mechanisms. • Identifies actions needed to achieve the recovery target. • Identifies barriers, relationships, conflicts, opportunities. • Helps identify funding priorities.

8. ThePuget Sound Action Agenda has prompted the prioritization of at least seven basin-wide implementation strategies for achieving recovery targets, representing different stream processes, that are directly affected by the design, management and treatment of stormwatergenerated from impervious surfaces associated with the built environment: • Toxics in Fish (Stormwater Team) • Chinook and Coho Salmon abundance (Chinook Recovery Team) • Freshwater Quality (not initiated) • Land Cover and Development (not initiated) • Benthic Insects in Streams – B-IBI (Stormwater Team) • Summer Stream Flows • Shellfish (WDOH)

9. 2020 Vital Sign target for B-IBI: Protect: All “excellent” Puget Sound lowland streams Restore: Improve at least 30 streams from “fair” to “good” Freshwater Quality B-IBI Protect & Restore

10. What is the Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity(B-IBI)? • The Puget Lowland benthic index of biotic integrity (B-IBI) was developed in the 1990s as an integrative measure of the biological health of wadeable streams in the Puget Sound lowlands. • Stream-dwelling invertebrates respond to changes in the physical and chemical environment. • Benthic macroinvertebrates generally inhabit a localized area of a stream throughout their life cycle and are continually exposed to any changes that occur in the chemical and physical environment. Continuous exposure to the localized condition presents an historical view of a stream's quality (Rosenberg and Resh 1996).

12. BIBI Targets and Current Conditions • ~1500 Sites in Puget Sound Stream Benthos database • >6000 BIBI scores

14. BIBI Targets and Current Conditions 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 NOT meeting target

15. BIBI Targets and Current Conditions 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 technically meeting target

16. BIBI Targets and Current Conditions: • NOT meeting protection target, but increase in overall number of excellent sites is great (gained more than were downgraded). • Meeting restoration target, but decline of scores at other sites tempers achievement. • Initial targets have provided a proof of concept. BIBI targets may need to shift to net change metric vs. single component.

17. Watershed Characterization - Tiering Watershed Management Objectives across both Geographic Scales and different Stream Processes: Highest Level of Importance Lowest Highest Level of Degradation

18. Watershed protection, restoration and development potential emphasis

19. Local Watersheds Most Suitable for Retrofits

20. Sub-Watershed Protection, Restoration, and Development Potential Emphasis

22. Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity Implementation Strategy Starter Package Discussion Draft - February 2017 .

23. Table of Contents • Introduction • - What is B-IBI? • - Why is B-IBI recovery important? • Scope of the B-IBI Implementation Strategy • - Vital Sign Freshwater Quality Indicator: B-IBI • - 2020 Vital Sign Indicator Targets • - Status and Trends of Vital Signs Targets • - Data used to track the Vital Sign • - Data limitations and uncertainties

24. Pressures and Stressors affecting B-IBI • Watershed Scale Considerations • Pressures Associated with Land Use • - Urbanization • - Agriculture • - Forestry • Stream Process Stressors • - Altered hydrology • - Altered habitat • - Water quality

25. Protection Strategies • Restoration Strategies • Key uncertainties • Basin Assessments • Supporting Programs • Pathways for Improving the Vital Sign

26. Effectiveness • - Stream Restoration and B-IBI Recovery • - Stormwater Management and Low Impact Development • - Ongoing Stormwater Effectiveness Research • Known Social, Economic, and Political Barriers • Related Strategy and Prioritization Efforts • - 2016 Near Term Actions Related to B-IBI • - 2018 Call for Near Term Action’s • - Local Efforts, Plans and Priorities • References

27. Initial B-BIBI Implementation Strategy Elements: • Based on existing monitoring programs and 20 years of baseline data • Consideration of Starter Package input • Discussion through advisory groups • Technical review and initial drafting • Refinement to continue….

28. BIBI Implementation Strategy Element 1 - Education and Incentives for Retrofitting Legacy Properties: • Provide incentives and remove barriers to retrofitting legacy stormwater problems. • Education and technical assistance to facilitate legacy property retrofits • Develop Social Marketing campaign elements

29. BIBI Implementation Strategy Element 2 - BIBI-focused Watershed Planning for Protection and Restoration: • Connecting basin-scale water resource management actions to potential benefits and value • Current and future land uses Identified • Create enabling conditions necessary for cross jurisdictional planning e.g. upstream-downstream relationships • Land use planning increases protection of stream health • Establish restoration/retrofit decision making criteria • BMPs implemented for effective stormwater management • Monitoring and research information Communicated to stormwater managers

30. BIBI Implementation Strategy Element 3 - Incentives to reduce the Impacts from Working Lands: • Outreach targeted • BMPs target specific impairments • Working lands are prioritized based on risk of conversion • Demonstration projects available • Only relevant BMPs suggested • Base funding secure • BMPs customized to site and area • Landowners familiar with and support BMPs and emerging technologies

31. BIBI Implementation Strategy Element 4 - Increase use of LID Performance Standard: • Improve use of performance standards • Information and modeling available and accessible • Modeling tools available for small projects • Creative solutions available • Most protective techniques used in new development • Operations and maintenance improve • Increase the credit given for trees in stormwater plans

32. BIBI Implementation Strategy Element 5 - Increase Local Government Capacity to Manage Stormwater Programs: • Create more support for funding local stormwater programs. • Local decision makers increase support of technical capacity. • Knowledge/skills to design, review, implement, maintain BMP’s • Most protective techniques used in new development • Operations and maintenance improve

33. Summary Notes: • The Action Agenda is intended to address issues that foster greater impact in protecting Puget Sound and its contributing watersheds. • The 2018 Action Agenda which will cover the 2018-2022 time-frame, and will be developing and using Implementation Strategies to help map out and prioritize groups of actions necessary for achieving identified outcomes. Still a work in progress – and we would appreciate your input or involvement in any way. • Many federal, state, tribal and local water or aquatic resource management programs have recognized the importance of implementing their respective programs through watershed-based approaches – from basin-wide scales to local tributary and catchment scales driven by parcel scale management practices. It is so very important to continue to implement our programs at relevant watershed scales if we are to be successful. • ‘Where’ is as important as ‘what’ or ‘when’. • And, then there is population growth. Protection efforts will have to be effective through our planning efforts and BMP’s and we will need to secure as many restoration/retrofit opportunities as we can for the future of our watersheds and sustaining the beneficial uses they provide. • Everything in this presentation is available through the key links that follow.

34. Key Links: • http://www.wastormwatercenter.org/tools • http://www.psp.wa.gov/implementation-strategies.php • https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/coastalatlas/wc/landingpage.html • https://ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Puget-Sound/Watershed-characterization-project/Watershed-characterization • http://www.commerce.wa.gov/serving-communities/growth-management/ • https://ecology.wa.gov/Regulations-Permits/Guidance-technical-assistance/Stormwater-permittee-guidance-resources/Low-Impact-Development-guidance • http://www.pugetsoundstreambenthos.org/ • https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/.../data.../puget-sound-monitoring-tools.aspx

35. Thank you for coming. We look forward to working with you both today and in the near future.