A Seattle-based research firm has concluded that Pierce County had the highest amount of pollution out of the 12 Washington counties surveyed. This score, on the “Sound Behavior Index” scale, resulted in the country being the lowest in terms of environmental friendliness and highest in impact to the surrounding ecology.
It has already been established that the Puget Sound population contributed to severe damage of the ocean and the surrounding area.
This study, which pinpoints the impact from region to region, showed San Juan county as having the least impact of the counties researched.
A survey was conducted to determine possible factors that could lead the researchers to demographics possibly determining the culprits of the high pollution rates across all areas of the Sound. By isolating and using a long-term study on the people who pollute the most, programs and priorities to lower pollution can be used to more accurately determine the needs and goals for the researchers.
Out of all the counties, Pierce County residents were found to be the most likely to use toxic chemicals to treat their lawns and gardens, which results in more runoff that goes straight into the water. Washing a car in a driveway has the same result from the soap that gets drained away.
The county’s residents were also found to use more household cleaners and chemical drain cleaners, and were more likely to dump prescription drugs down the drain. All these products are lethal to life in the surrounding nature.
The study tracks a variety of points that the researchers think could help reach a conclusion, including race, income and political affiliation. Out of all people surveyed, the study concluded that white people polluted more than members of any other ethnicity surveyed. Demographics also revealed that negative environmental impact increased with the number of children in the household.
Residents who had lived for a longer time in the area were revealed to pollute more than those who were new to the region. However, it has not been concluded that the amount of time spent in one area corresponds to the amount of pollution produced.
Income was shown to be a possible factor, as families making more than $75,000 annually had a larger impact than those in lower brackets. A possible reason for this is that larger income allows for larger property, and more resources available to the members of the household.
As far as political affiliations are concerned, the study found that the people surveyed who created the most pollution responded as being “moderate,” “somewhat conservative” or “very conservative.”
“These findings, as a whole, suggest that established, well-to-do white families with children may encounter greater opportunities to perform imperfectly, as regards to Sound Behavior. That is, they likely have a higher probability of having lawns, horses, boats, dogs and engaging in boating and other activities that produce behaviors adverse to water quality,” the researchers wrote.
This is not to say that people from the aforementioned backgrounds always produce more pollution—in fact, Pierce County residents shouldn’t view their position with too much concern. The study was not made to produce blame, but to understand that improvement is necessary. “Different counties have different levels of opportunity to exercise good environmental behavior. Part of looking at this is looking at what’s the opportunity factor,” David Ward said. Ward directs social strategy efforts for the Puget Sound Partnership.
The PSP is a community organization that is dedicated to improving the quality and sustainability of the Sound. These studies allow the members to direct their efforts more efficiently to the root of the problem. “Our goal is to make Puget Sound healthy again and create a roadmap for how to get it done,” the PSP website states. In order to sustain the sound to, and sustained at, a point of ecological security, the Pierce County community must be willing to assist the efforts of organizations like PSP and keep our environment clean.