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Tacoma: Port Uses Blooming Boxes to Filter Industrial Stormwater

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Flowers help control storm water pollution while providing color at the Port of Tacoma’s administration building. In time for Earth Day, port staff spent a recent Friday lunch planting four downspout treatment boxes to keep pollutants from flowing into Commencement Bay. 

Anita Fichthorn, the port’s water quality project manager, designed the boxes to filter the heavy metals picked up by rainwater coming off the roof. The boxes were engineered and built by port facilities development and maintenance staff, using materials readily available at local hardware and building supply stores.

The boxes – nicknamed Coho, Steelhead, Chum and King – cost about $600 each to build and mimic the natural environment to filter pollutants. Nestled in a bioretention soil mix of sand and compost that controls the flow of water, the plants take up zinc and other pollutants to use during photosynthesis.
 
"The boxes play a key role in our efforts to control heavy metal releases from our industrial properties,” said Ms. Fichthorn said. "They also help us comply with the terms of our stormwater permit.”

The boxes were tested last year at Pierce County Terminal and the port’s maintenance facility, where they removed 99 percent of metals, particularly zinc and copper. View a 2-minute video of how they work on the port’s website.

 

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