Many of the challenges facing Puget Sound’s water originate from urban built environments and infrastructure. Cities, roads, and other infrastructure, include large areas of hardscape with poor infiltration, are a huge source of polluted runoff, and act as heat islands that affect natural temperature and water cycles. Linear thinking, lack of creativity and social inequity has resulted in urban environments that degrade our region’s water through groundwater depletion, untreated runoff, releases of recent and legacy pollutants and overburdened sewage treatment systems.   

The good news is we’re starting to reimagine how our buildings, cities and urban infrastructure can function. This regenerative approach to design and planning seeks to mimic the environmental services of predevelopment landscapes, including the benefits of the natural hydrologic cycle. Ultimately, the goal is to have our cities provide the same ecosystem services for water retention and filtration as the old growth Western Red Cedar forests that once occupied Puget Sound’s watersheds.

Solutions in This Sector