Failing our Sound

Public awareness of Puget Sound's ailing health is a primary concern of people charged with restoring and protecting the waterway. A Seattle Times series, "Failing our Sound," has revealed an unexpected twist: a failure to enforce laws already on the books.

The urgency of rallying public support for a big, expensive cleanup is understandable. Puget Sound is beautiful and Washington's bright, shiny jewel does not appear troubled. A growing population is drawn to its jobs and housing and its shoreline that spreads out for miles into vast tributaries and watersheds.The valuable reminder offered by "Failing our Sound" is that we have all been this way before. Active concern about wetlands preservation and proliferation of bulkheads began in earnest 30 years ago.

Indeed, the salutary effect of "Failing our Sound" is not only to emphasize the challenges, but also to elbow elected officials and bureaucrats to use the tools already available to them. Saying "no" and meaning it would be a huge step forward.

Regulatory enforcement and vigilance are suspect, at best. The theme persists as the series looked at runoff from paved, impervious surfaces; disappearing wetlands and dubious, artificial substitutes; and the erosion issues with bulkheads at the water's edge.

Restoring Puget Sound to robust health will not be achieved without collective agreement that we all have a stake in its future, and unless we decide as individuals to take an interest and participate.

No progress will be made if regulatory agencies undercut those efforts by not enforcing the best practices known for a generation.