Stormwater retrofit planning in the Hood Canal Action Area: defining the anatomy of a preferred site

The Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) collaborated with watershed jurisdictions and other entities to develop a Hood Canal Regional Stormwater Retrofit Plan funded by a National Estuary Program Watershed Protection and Restoration Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). As in many other areas around the Salish Sea, stormwater runoff from developed lands degrades surface water quality and impairs stream habitat structure in the Hood Canal watershed. The development of a regional approach for addressing stormwater runoff and its impacts is a unique collaboration between HCCC members: Mason County, Kitsap County, Jefferson County, the Skokomish Tribe, and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe to strategically protect and restore water quality and stream flows in the watershed. The Hood Canal Regional Stormwater Retrofit Plan was designed to evaluate stormwater retrofit opportunities using common prioritization and planning strategies to maximize benefits, efficiency, and consistency. The Hood Canal Stormwater and Land Use Practices Workgroup (comprised of the HCCC, Hood Canal jurisdictions, Ecology, WSDOT, and other organizations and agencies) worked with a consultant team to identify priority areas for retrofit evaluation in the watershed based on modeling and local considerations, and within these areas potential retrofit projects were identified and prioritized using criteria developed by the Workgroup. These criteria included pollutant removal capability and educational value. Prioritized sites were evaluated further and analyzed using more detailed prioritization criteria, including other environmental benefits, community considerations, and potential to qualify for established funding sources. A final list of the highest priority retrofit sites in the watershed was developed to inform site selections for pre-design and the development of the regional plan. This effort supports regional water quality benefits as these priority projects are implemented and can also serve as a resource and “lessons learned” for other rural watersheds in which planning is conducted for stormwater management actions amidst diverse interests and development characteristics