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The Pros And Cons Of The Puget Sound

1038 Words5 Pages

The Puget Sound, home to wildlife and some of the business of this region, is dirty. Specifically, it is dirty with the toxins in people’s lives. The Puget Sound may be recovering, but it is still polluted. With people polluting the Puget Sound, people, businesses, and marine life may be harmed. The Puget Sound is polluted, largely because of people’s actions. Efforts to clean up pollution are already underway, but the problem of pollution still persists. The Department of Ecology says that “a major contributor of these toxic pollutants entering the Sound is the stormwater that runs off our highways, roads, driveways, roofs, parking lots, disturbed soils, and other developed surfaces” (“Threats to Puget Sound”). When there is rain, the rain …show more content…

This can be a problem when there are fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, pet waste, oil, and other pollutants on the ground that can get washed into the storm drain. When these pollutants are on impervious surfaces that do not allow soil to soak and filter contaminants out, they go into storm drains. Pollutants in the Puget Sound can be harmful to marine life. According to King County, less than half of salmon and steelhead stocks in the Puget Sound are healthy (“What is Stormwater Runoff?”). Many people rely on fish in this area for food, business, and recreation. If the fish are not healthy, that can adversely affect people. People could eat contaminated fish, or people cannot sell the fish because they are contaminated. Some fish may die from the pollution, leading to less fish for catching. Lower populations of fish and other marine life can also cause an imbalance in the food chain. Predators can also be harmed …show more content…

There are many people in the area that can put a strain on the cleanliness of the Sound. With the different threats to the Puget Sound today, a larger population could cause those problems to be exacerbated if they are not addressed. According to Washington’s Office of Financial Management, the population in this region could increase up to 5.1 million people by the year 2020 (“Threats to Puget Sound”). The threats and the increase of people in the region mean the Puget Sound could become more polluted in the future. If people take measures to curb the pollution, the Puget Sound can recover even

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