The projects aim to capture or slow stormwater runoff, preventing polluted runoff from getting into downstream waters and drinking water. The projects also hope to reduce flooding and sewer and stormwater overflows and improve water quality for threatened and endangered salmon.
 

Spokane will receive $382,000 for its West Broadway SURGE (Spokane Urban Runoff Greenway Experiment) Project. The funding will aid the construction of 37 planters between the footpath and pavement to intercept stormwater runoff on both sides of Broadway Street. The stormwater runoff will be passed through mulch, top soil and a gravel-enhanced base, cleaning the water before is allowed to soak into the ground. This will protect the city’s underground aquifer and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from stormwater runoff which gets into the Spokane River.
 

Olympia will receive $3.67 million for enhanced treatment of stormwater runoff at Yauger Park in a project which will increase stormwater storage at the park, reducing erosion from flooding. The project includes a low impact development, a water quality treatment wetland, retention ponds, a 5,000 square foot rain garden, swales and a new parking lot using porous pavement.
 

Seattle Public Utilities’ Ballard Green Streets project gets $1.54 million to install ten blocks of swales to naturally detain and infiltrate stormwater. This ‘Green Streets’ project will control runoff from 2.6 acres of hard surfaces, reducing sewer/storm overflows and reducing stormwater pollution in the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which serves as a key migration corridor for threatened Chinook salmon and steelhead, coho salmon, and regionally significant sockeye salmon. The swales will also free up capacity in the combined sewer/storm system, reducing pollution overflows.