Congratulations to Pierce County’s Public Works and Utilities Surface Water Management Division, which recently won a national environmental award for its Raise the Grade stream health and stormwater technical assistance programs. The National Association of Clean Water Agencies presented its 2013 National Environmental Achievement Award for Innovation in Operations to the agency.
Since 2008, Pierce County has been “grading” the health of streams and lakes on the familiar scale of A to F. This data is published annually in the Surface Water Health Report Card and posted on the county website. Public and privately-owned stormwater facilities are also given a rating of 1 to 5 based on how well they are working and are maintained.
Trends are tracked and used to allocate county resources. Since the county began monitoring and publishing these trends in 2008, both compliance with stormwater requirements and overall watershed health have improved.
To learn more about watershed health and Raise the Grade, visit www.piercecountywa.org/watershedhealthdata and www.piercecountywa.org/raisethegrade.
