Port of Seattle Strengthens Environmental Performance

The Port of Seattle has started a pilot project to reduce the amount of polluted runoff reaching Puget Sound. The Port is hosting a two-year study site for two unique metal boxes which will bloom into rain gardens and help reduce pollutants. This effort is in partnership with King Conservation District, Sustainable Seattle, Gealogica and Splash Boxx.  

“The Port of Seattle is working with many partners to restore Puget Sound.” said Commissioner Bill Bryant. “There is no single solution to saving Puget Sound, no silver bullet, but there are hundreds of different things we can do and this is one of them.”

Moving Green Infrastructure (MGIF) is a research/demonstration project to test the water quality performance of two innovative stormwater treatment techniques, a large “rain garden in a box” and a special soil mix with local, volcanic sands. Water quality from a roof in an industrial port area will be tested before and after going through the boxes to see how these two techniques perform. 

This research/demonstration project is part of growing efforts to reduce the amount of polluted runoff reaching Puget Sound, which is estimated to receive between 14 and 94 million pounds of toxic pollutants every year. Two large steel boxes, called Splash Boxxes, are being installed at Terminal 91. These boxes are a blend of rain garden and cistern, two practices referred to as low impact development, or LID.  

“LID works,” said Amy Waterman of Gealogica, “resulting in 98-99 per cent reduction in runoff volume and 83-99 per cent reduction in key pollutants.”  

The water going into each box from the roof runoff will be tested once a month during the rainy seasons for phosphorus, nitrogen, bacteria, zinc, and copper.  Splash Boxxes are part of an innovative stormwater research and demonstration project funded by King Conservation District and managed by Sustainable Seattle through a contract with Gealogica LLC.  The Port of Seattle is providing the site for two years. 

Another port initiative aims to encourage vessels to reach early compliance with 2015 ECA regulations by making cash available to vessels using bunker fuel with a maximum sulfur content of 0.10 per cent while at berth. The move comes under the 2009-launched At Berth Clean (ABC) Fuels Program, which encourages vessels to burn low-sulfur fuels at the port.

According to the port, this year’s payout will be offered on a per metric tonne basis to vessels that achieve early compliance with the upcoming North American ECA regulations. “The incentive payout depends on the amount of fuel burned and could be as much as $7,400 per qualifying vessel call,” according to port information. Port Commissioner Stephanie Bowman says the program has eliminated more than 835 metric tonnes of sulfur dioxide emissions from the wider Puget Sound region over the past seven years. 

The port has paid out approximately $3 million in incentives so far. This will be the final year for the ABC Fuels Program. The program applies to qualifying vessels in port through December 31st, 2014.