Our Bay’s Superfund Cleanup

What we now know as the Tacoma Tideflats and Port Industrial area was once a broad expanse of estuarine habitat extending from the surrounding hills as far back as I-5. The twisted, many-braided delta fan of the Puyallup River splayed widely across the landscape, adding fresh water, sediments and organic debris to the richness and diversity of the salt-water bay. Additionally, 2,000 acres of mudflats and 4,100 acres of salt water and fresh water marshes criss-crossed with miles of tidal channels added together to create a vibrant and diverse ecosystem teeming with life.

The People who had for centuries made their homes in and around Commencement Bay and the Puyallup River estuary knew that, when the tide was out, the table was set – and they taught this to the first few hardy folks who ventured out to settle this area. They would not recognize the landscape we find so familiar today, but their efforts led to the creation of the industrial development of the Tacoma Tideflats and one of the largest commercial Ports in North America and secured the success and economic future of the City of Tacoma.

In 1981, Commencement Bay was listed as one of the first candidate Superfund sites in the Nation. 130 years of development and industrial activities left a toxic legacy of contaminated sediments and polluted waters lethal to the once rich aquatic environment that was Commencement Bay and the Puyallup River estuary. Areas once packed with an amazing wealth of life and diversity had become virtual biological deserts where only low numbers of the most pollution-tolerant species could live.

The Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats (CB/NT) Superfund Problem Area covers 10-12 square miles of shallow water, shoreline and adjacent uplands. Early investigations of the CB/NT problem area revealed nearly 500 sources of contamination to the bay by more than 70 different chemicals and generated by more than 150 responsible entities. The contaminated upland soils and in-water silts and clays requiring remediation combined would fill 4 Tacoma Domes.

To manage cleanup actions, the CB/NT problem area was divided up into 6 distinct areas: Thea Foss/Wheeler-Osgood Waterway, Middle Waterway, St. Paul Waterway, Sitcum Waterway, Hylebos Waterway and the former site and surrounding area of the ASARCO Smelter in Ruston. In 1998, the Olympic View natural resources restoration site was added as an independent

To learn more about the Cleanup Process Click Here.