"How We Got Into Such A Mess With Stormwater"

"SEATTLE — Gliding through the clear, emerald water of Puget Sound, Diver Laura James stopped when something shiny on the bottom caught her eye. She reached down and picked up a tire-flattened beer can."

"And then she noticed more garbage — stir straws, bubble gum wrappers, coffee lids, a plastic packet of ketchup — littered across the sound’s sandy floor.

Clean Water: The Next Act

'I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first,' James says. 'We’d swim along and we’d see this decaying swath – black with dead leaves and garbage. And then it would go back to normal.'"

Ashley Ahearn and Katie Campbell report for Investigate West in collaboration with EarthFix and EcoTrope October 17, 2012.