Part 1: Polluted waters

		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	Clean water returns to the river from Duwamish Shipyard, which reached a deal in 1995 with Puget Soundkeeper Alliance to clean up its discharges.

We're treating Puget Sound like a sewer. Every day, government and private facilities dump more than a billion gallons of polluted water in the estuary.

Area's defining waterway is a cesspool of pollution
Puget Sound, that luscious body of blue crisscrossed by carefree sailors, weary commuters and far-ranging freighters, looks healthy enough. The truth is, we're still treating the Sound like a sewer.

Cleanup to-do list is long -- and old
So uncertain is progress on cleaning up the Sound that the state's Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team added a section to its management plan, which describes actions that various agencies are expected to take. It is titled, "What does 'shall' mean?"

The Navy, a top polluter, botched cleanup
BREMERTON -- The Navy has a proud history here, building and repairing ships that helped the nation win two world wars. But it has also been a prolific polluter -- responsible for more than a dozen of the most contaminated spots around Puget Sound.

Guardians of the Sound: Environmental cleanup expert embarks on a new mission
For two years, Kristen Burgess, 36, has worked to learn about and track the sources of the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, harming killer whales. She thinks other industrial chemicals are hurting the whales, too.

Sediment layers reveal a history of pollution
SEQUIM -- The history of a region can be told through faded photographs, old letters or yellowed news clippings. Eric Crecelius likes to tell the story of Puget Sound with mud.

Water polluters: Top violators statewide
Since 1999, more than 424 entities have violated federal water pollution laws, most often by dumping more contaminants than permitted into Puget Sound and its tributaries or by failing to monitor discharge. Yet only two of the top 10 violators have been fined by the state Department of Ecology.

Illustrations:
- Who's permitted to pollute (Acrobat PDF)
- The top polluters and where they are (Acrobat PDF)

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