Puget Sound

About

Washington’s Puget Sound suffers from poor water quality driven by stormwater runoff, excess nutrient loading, and water that is too warm. These conditions imperil the Sound’s fragile but vibrant economy and ecosystem. 

Collectively, all municipalities in the Sound are poised to spend billions on wastewater treatment technologies and stormwater control measures that will meet nutrient limits set in water quality permits. However, there is no guarantee that these efforts will result in meaningful improvements to the Sound’s habitat or water quality. 

Since 2020, TFT has worked with King County, the Puget Sound’s largest municipality and wastewater discharger, to design and assess the feasibility of a watershed-wide funding and compliance strategy that ensures dollars are effectively invested in the right mix of treatment technology and conservation projects, including stormwater green infrastructure, dairy management, agricultural runoff abatement, and habitat improvement projects. 

In 2025, TFT began work with the Puget Sound Partnership to develop an innovative “pay for performance” approach that aims to more efficiently drive more coordinated funding to solutions that effectively accomplish the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan goals, including restoring riparian and instream habitat, increasing water quantity in rivers, and improving water temperature. 

This sort of integrated, balanced approach could boost the effectiveness and efficiency of watershed efforts, ensuring ratepayer and public dollars are directed to projects that cost-effectively and efficiently improve water quality and habitat conditions in the Sound.