Clean water

Clean drinkable water is essential to protecting human, plant, and animal health. Also, having clean and safe water to play in and fish from is important. Water can become contaminated in many ways, including septic systems failures, sewage overflows and spills, poorly maintained pools and spas, and wildlife waste that contaminate swimming beaches.

	Water and sustainability
	Building sustainable communities that determine how water, energy, and other resources are used is important to the health of the entire region. Planning choices and building design save money and promote environmental stewardship.
	Water runoff and pollution
	Polluted runoff occurs when contaminants are picked up by rainwater, snowmelt or landscape irrigation, which is then carried off to be deposited in lakes, rivers and streams. Polluted runoff can occur in many ways such as human activities (improper use of yard and garden chemicals, improper disposal of automotive products), residential and commercial development, transportation infrastructure, mining and agriculture. Polluted runoff can have a number of negative impacts on water quality. For example, increasing the sediment and nutrient loads upsets nature's balance in streams and lakes. Excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, lead to algae blooms which damages aquatic ecosystems. Metals and other toxic chemicals in polluted runoff negatively impact aquatic life and human health. Finally, polluted runoff can introduce bacteria, viruses and other pathogens into local water bodies.

What you can do DISPOSE OF WASTE AND CHEMICALS PROPERLY Find out what you can do to dispose properly PLANT TREES AND OTHER VEGETATION Low maintenance plants that require little water result in better water quality because there is less runoff, and less need for pesticides and fertilizers. CONSERVE WATER See tips on conserving water in your home and through purchases.

	Swimming beach safety Public Health works with King County Department of Natural Resources to monitor Lake Washington public beaches for safety of swimmers and other recreational activity.
	Swimming pool and spa inspections and management Information for owners/managers of public and semi-public pools and spas
	Drinking Water Program Public Health works to prevent communicable disease and illness associated with drinking water from small public and individual private water systems.
	Wastewater Program Public Health helps to ensure that septic systems are safe. Includes education and information for septic system owners.
	Plumbing inspection Public Health is unique in Washington and an exception nationally in that it houses the plumbing permitting and inspection work. This arrangement assures that safe water delivered to our homes and buildings and remains safe while in the building.

• Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition
  An alliance of community, environmental and small business groups affected by ongoing pollution and cleanup plans for the Duwamish River.
  
  
• King County Watersheds, Rivers and Streams
  Find information about specific watersheds, rivers and streams including news, reports, data, activities, grants, and stewardship organizations.
  
  
• Stormwater Management Program
  King County's actions to comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System municipal stormwater permit issued by the Washington Department of Ecology.
  
  
• Puget Sound Partnership
  The Partnership is a community effort working together to restore and protect Puget Sound. Includes a Human Health Impact Forum group.
  
  
• Washington State Department of Ecology on Water Quality
  The Department of Ecology works to protect every part of the environment upon which we all depend – including the water we drink.
  
  
• Beach Environmental Assessment, Communication and Health (BEACH) Program
  The program works to reduce the risk of disease for people who play in saltwater.
  
  
• Washington State Department of Health Recreational Shellfish Program
  Provides information about where and how to safely harvest shellfish that are free of contamination.
  
  
• Washington State Department of Health Biotoxin Program
  Provides information on paralytic shellfish poisoning, a serious illness caused by eating shellfish contaminated with algae that contains a toxin harmful to humans.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Swimming
  CDC's Healthy Swimming program offers information and resources to raise awareness and prevent disease by practicing "Healthy Swimming" behaviors.
  
  
• CDC -- Water Quality
  To use water resources more efficiently to preserve them for future generations and reduce water and wastewater infrastructure costs by reducing unnecessary water consumption.
  
  
• AWARE Colorado Program
  AWARE Colorado provides information to community leaders statewide about the impacts of land use on water quality, and suggests strategies to protect our rivers, lakes and streams.
  
  
• Rain gardens
  Rain gardens are an old idea which are making a comeback and an impact in urban and suburban communities.
  
  
• PBS Frontline - Poisoned Waters
  Poisoned Waters reveals evidence that today's growing environmental threat comes not from the giant industrial polluters of old, but from chemicals in consumers' everyday products that eventually find their way into waterways and drinking water.
  
  
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Water Quality
  Water quality data are used to characterize waters, identify trends over time, identify emerging problems, determine whether pollution control programs are working, help direct pollution control efforts to where they are most needed, and respond to emergencies such as floods and spills.

• Seattle schools approve policy on water quality
  After months of deliberations, the Seattle School Board approved a new policy to ensure all schools have some of the cleanest school drinking water in the country.
  
  
• Boost stream flows to improve water quality
  It should come as no surprise that the state Department of Ecology has found more than 3,854 sections of the state's waterways suffering from too many pollutants.