♪♪
[ Horn honks ]
-A huge tunnel is the centerpiece
of this massive project
and cleaner runoff will be the result.
-This is a historical problem from 100 years ago,
when there was no treatment. -Okay.
I think eventually it'll get to a point
where it's just like houses have roofs,
they'll have small solar systems added.
-New federal tax credits lead to a boom in rooftop solar.
But even here in rainy Seattle?
-It's pretty cool how effective
and how powerful it really can be.
-Seattle Public Utilities works with private firms
to filter stormwater using bioswales.
-You know, that's cleaner water for humans and fish.
That makes a lot of sense to me.
-These stories and more, next on "CityStream".
♪♪
-I'm Enrique Cerna.
Welcome to "CityStream" from Discovery Park.
We're here surrounded by nature's beauty
to celebrate Earth Day
coming up on April 22nd.
Since 1970,
Earth Day has focused attention on the importance
of environmental conservation and sustainability.
It's also raised awareness
and inspired changes leading to a healthier planet.
One of those changes is happening along the Ship Canal,
a major public works project featuring
a nearly three mile long tunnel
that will reduce rain and sewage runoff during torrential storms.
Lake Union, Ship Canal, and Salmon Bay will all benefit,
but the biggest gains will come here in Puget Sound
where a lot of polluted water runs off.
Producers Randy Eng and Pete Cassam explain.
♪♪
-We're swimming in the water.
We're paddle boarding on the water.
We're boating on the water.
And coming in contact with the water,
it's important for it to be healthy.
But there are times where, like in a heavy rain event,
it's too much water to handle.
And so when that happens,
it ends up overflowing into the ship canal.
Almost half of the amount of combined sewer overflows
that enter our local waterways
and all of Seattle are occurring in the ship canal.
-It's not the treatment plant that's a problem.
It's actually just there's just too much water in the tunnels
and the collection pipes.
And basically this is a historical problem
from 100 years ago when there was no treatment.
So all these overflow locations,
they discharged the sewage
and everything right into the water bodies.
We're going to remove about 75 million gallons
of this sewage and storm water
from the ship canal every year by storing it in the tunnel,
then draining the tunnel with a pump station
to the West Point Treatment Plant.
And I do have to clarify
when people hear I'm working on a tunnel,
they instantly think about traffic,
that we're building a tunnel
to improve traffic from Ballard to Wallingford.
So it's actually a water tunnel.
The name of our tunnel boring machine is Mud Honey.
And so many people know
that Mud Honey is a grunge band from the Seattle area.
We lowered Mud Honey into the Ballard shaft
in the spring of 2021.
It's a really huge machine.
If you put all the pieces together it would be
nearly as long as seven semi-trucks put back to back.
The machine was made in Germany
and it's an international crew that operates it from countries
from all over the world.
-Well, there is people that can speak multiple languages.
50% coming from Latin countries.
-Maybe six years ago I started at Mexico.
So I start there this kind of tunnel with a soft material.
-This is my first time on tunnel like this size
and it's amazing.
I'm happy to be a part of this project.
-This is already the third year they're working together.
So there is a very,
very beautiful coordination between them.
Also, the help of people that can speak multiple languages
can always put everything in common.
-Everything has to work in sequence.
There's three trains running down the tunnel.
They're working about 24 hours a day, 6 days a week.
This is not a high speed rail line.
Yes, it is bumpy. It's really loud.
And I think it's important to note that this is the commute.
There's about 15 people up at the machine
and this is how they commute to work every day.
They commute there and they commute out.
-Follow me. So now we can go straight.
Follow me.
-Every tunnel is a new adventure,
you know, it's never the same.
I'm operating the tunnel boring machine.
As you can see, the mud's coming out real quick.
We're mining at almost three inches a minute.
You know, you got to counteract.
You got to put positive pressure,
but at the same time, not too much.
-He's mining.
The soil is coming up over the top on a conveyor belt,
and then it's dropping in where you saw that guy back there.
What we're mining through is essentially a soil
that was deposited and then run over by the last glacier
about 15,000 years ago.
So we're running through very hard compressed soil.
When he stops mining, he's done for 30 minutes.
Then we're going to see very quickly these guys or gals
trying to set those liners in to build the tunnel.
To build about five feet of tunnel
generally takes about 30 minutes if all goes well.
Parts of the tunnel are underneath the roadways.
Parts of our underground structures
will be under the Burke-Gilman Trail.
People have no idea what's underneath there
and that's part of the whole realm of utilities.
If you look at utilities, you don't see them.
Yeah.
What we're looking at here is Mud Honey,
our tunnel boring machine for the storage tunnel.
We're super excited about this.
After a 22 month journey from Ballard,
the machine cored into the side here right on the mark,
right into our Wallingford shaft.
So we're now finished with our storage tunnel.
But the machine, you know, looks like it's been through a lot.
It has.
The red stripe is all the paint that's left from Mud Honey
when the machine started back 22 months ago.
We're basically going to be recycling most of the machine.
The contractor will basically take most of the cutter head
and kind of the steel piece that you see here off.
Inside are lots of different pumps, an operator's room.
Those will all be lifted out
and actually sent back to the manufacturer in Germany
to be refurbished and to use on another project.
And then actually most of the hard metal
that you see here will actually be melted down locally
and reused for other purposes.
We did all this work during COVID.
We did it as a team.
We have a great contract with the Lane Construction Company
who's been great to work with.
It's been really amazing to see everyone working together.
When we're working at these shafts,
we're here for years
and we really appreciate people's patience.
-The benefits that we'll see from this project
are going to be long-lasting.
It's something that's being built to last
at least the next 50 years.
Environmental stewardship is really important
to Seattle Public Utilities,
so we want to improve the environmental health
in our communities
so that way our communities can thrive
and enjoy this resource now and into the future.
-You always want to try to make a difference.
And when you think about you're working on a project
that will remove 75 million gallons of sewage and
storm water, that's something to be proud of.
-Remaining work on the project includes connection
to the West Point Treatment Plant just east of us.
If everything goes as planned,
the entire system should be online by 2027.
-Yeah, reducing carbon and their footprint,
which are all positive things for customers.
-Next on "CityStream," even with our gray skies,
rooftop solar installations are on the rise.
We'll take a look.
♪♪
-New federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act,
billed as the climate law of a generation,
are leading to a boom of electrification projects
across the country.
That includes a rush on rooftop solar locally,
even with all of the Seattle rain.
Michael Crowe reports.
♪♪
-Snipping away.
-Mike Powell handles a lot of solar panels, like a lot.
-35. 35 panels.
-And that's just one house.
As an installer for Seattle based SolTerra
he's been busy hoisting 50 pound panels to roofs
across town one by one. -There's that.
-Then it's up in the air, today high above Magnolia.
You ever work with anyone that has a fear of heights?
-I think we all do a little bit at first.
We're trying to start on that end though, right?
-He's worked here for a couple years now
and says it doesn't ever seem to slow down
with some customers waiting several months for an install.
Part of that is awareness as more coverage
of our climate crisis drives individuals to act,
but it's also getting more affordable thanks to tax credits
from the federal Inflation Reduction Act,
which became law in 2022.
Over on the shores of Lake Washington.
-It's pretty cool how simple this technology is,
but how effective and how powerful it really can be.
-Geoff Vestman with Artisan Electric
has seen the policy impact first hand.
-The demand stayed really strong all the way through 2023
and we saw a little bit of a dip with some seasonality here
locally, but with the springtime things are picking back up,
phones are ringing, and the guys staying busy,
-A good problem to have. -Yes it is.
-He says it works out to be about a 30% cost reduction
for a home solar system like this
though the price tag is still significant for most,
often 30 to 40 grand before rebates.
But he usually tells customers it will pay back
over about 10 to 12 years. And business is booming.
They've grown 15 to 20% and have been on a hiring spree
to meet demand thanks to those tax credits.
And what does he hear from customers driving
this decision to electrify? -The climate stuff absolutely,
reducing carbon and their footprint, you know.
So there's the altruism.
There's the financial payback benefit.
And there's the lowering of the carbon footprint
which, you know, are all positive things for customers.
-Which is also what motivates Aimee Carpenter,
owner of SolTerra.
-Yeah, I feel super proud of the work that me
and my team are doing.
And of course the excitement that our clients have.
It always feels good to see someone flip the switch
and go from not solar to solar. -Though they do warn caution
if you're considering the solar plunge.
They recommend getting three bits just like any contractor
and looking for reputable companies.
The state trade group, WASEIA has a list of them online.
-When you look at who our members are,
you're going to know that you're working with companies
who have adopted that code of ethics
and stand by it year over year.
-President Kaitlin Borstelmann is also
the regional sales manager for a solar distributor,
Greentech Renewables.
She says the industry is hoping for more workforce development
like electricians,
hanging on to net metering policies in Washington,
and education for home and business owners.
And yes, solar works even with our notoriously gray skies.
-Solar in general is on a really positive
upward trajectory nationally and locally.
We've been having actually a pretty healthy strong market
locally relative to the rest of the national market
for a couple of years now.
-A lot of that she attributes
to educated customers taking advantage of tax credits,
grants, and other assistance.
The Department of Energy says there's now
over a million solar installations around the US
and cites a study showing solar increased home value
by an average of 15 grand.
-It is a big incentive having that tax credit.
-Back in Magnolia,
work is wrapping up
and homeowner Glan Thomas is excited
to show his kids the new panels.
-It's been remarkably easy
because you kind of like have concerns
about putting holes in the roof and doing panel replacements,
which I did as part of this project.
It's actually it's not too bad so far.
-Okay.
-And Mike Powell is still up on the roof.
-That's a rap, man.
-Glad to be doing work that matters.
-It's nice to do some things
that we know are good for something.
You know, I'm trying to help the energy
and the environment and all of those things.
-Harnessing the power of the sun one roof at a time.
-I think eventually it'll get to a point
where it's just like houses have roofs,
they'll have small solar systems added just to help the grid.
♪♪
-Industries association has that list of members online.
For more information, go to this website, waseia.org
and go to the solar 101 tab at the top of the page,
and then click find an installer.
The theme of Earth Day 2024
is planet versus plastics.
The goal is a 60% reduction
in plastic production by the year 2040.
And while plastics are a huge problem,
so is the sheer amount of waste that ends up in landfills.
One nonprofit is working to change
that by helping Seattleites turn trash into treasure.
Producers Kathy Tuohey and Valerie Vozza explain.
♪♪
-Walking into Seattle Recreative reuse center
is like entering an arts and crafts wonderland.
Every nook and cranny
is packed with donated materials just waiting to be transformed.
-The mission
of Seattle Recreative is to promote creativity,
community, and environmental stewardship
through creative reuse and arts education.
-For eight years,
crafters of all types have flocked to the store,
drawn in by the ever changing inventory,
the low prices, and the ecofriendly vibe.
-What we really want to do
is help keep usable materials out of the landfill
and available for the community to use.
We do that by having our retail art thrift store
here in Greenwood.
We also have a whole arts programming wing
where we do after school arts.
We do camps and classes.
All of those sorts of things.
-Besides the traditional arts and craft supplies
like yarn, fabric, paint.
-This is eight yards of fabric, $3.00 a yard.
-They offer nontraditional art supplies like mattress springs,
pill bottles, and whatever this is.
-We have a couple of programs for free supplies.
One is our free for black, indigenous, or artists of color.
And then we also do that same type of program
for public school teachers, where teachers can come in
and shop certain materials for free once a month.
-First grade teacher,
Wynn York-Jones uses the program to find supplies
for class science projects.
-These are going to be amazing.
Look at all these. -How many do you need?
-About 200.
The free for teachers program is really great.
It allows me to come in and get things for my classroom that,
you know, I would normally have to pay for myself.
So it's amazing.
-Local artists come here searching
for unusual supplies and inspiration
to bring their work to the next level.
-A lot of my work is already like mixed media and scrappy,
so this is like really convenient for me.
-I am in making puppets.
I have a puppet studio in Georgetown.
-I love how it's folded.
-I know. Gives you an idea, doesn't it?
-Frequent shoppers Wendy James and Nicola Beeson
are mixed media artists who are always on the hunt
for just the right piece to finish a project.
-This came from here.
This was a rubber stamp that some artist made,
you know, donated, and then we find it.
And we're like, hey, I can put that in something.
-I've been coming to Seattle Recreative since at least 2017.
Mostly I look for odds and ends and strange antiques or things
from another time.
Just things that inspire me.
-Visiting Nicola's art studio, you can't help
but be delighted to see where these odds and ends landed.
-I picked these up at Seattle Recreative last week.
A few different options for an assemblage piece
that I'm working on now.
And I really thought it needed some sort of beads
or something to hang on these cool hinges.
-Everyone, in addition to coming in to shop here,
should follow us on Instagram or Facebook
because we often will post the latest things
or very popular items or particularly interesting items.
-Sometimes you might not find what you're looking for,
but you'll find something else.
So you'll always find something. -Hi there.
-Donations keep things interesting.
You never know what might come through the door.
Today it's sewing machines.
-So I'm just weighing the donations that just came in.
We weigh the donations just because we track
how much we divert from the waste stream.
An average month is about 4,500 pounds of materials.
-That's 54,000 pounds or 27 tons a year
for those who are counting.
Besides benefiting the environment,
creative reuse provides people a unique opportunity
to think about things differently.
-I might have a cork, but I'm not using it to stop a bottle.
I'm using that cork for something else, right?
I think kids are really good at looking at a cork and saying,
"Oh, it's a person.
It's a rocket ship" or whatever it is.
And I think adults are able to do that too,
they just, you know, need a little bit more encouragement.
One of the things that I love the most is
when a customer shopping hears another customer ask a question
and then offers their own solution.
All these connections help again build community
and allow people to connect with each other
about something they love to, right, making things.
We have great staff. We have amazing volunteers.
Here, you want to see a great drawer
that a volunteer organized today?
We have built something really awesome
and I love that we keep good stuff out of the landfill too.
You know, like I like that we do that piece as well.
♪♪
-If you're thinking, I have stuff to donate.
Well, you can do it, and it's easy to do.
Just head to this website, seattlerecreative.org
and see what they accept.
Then email them for an appointment.
Just ahead, ever heard of a bioswale?
It's a public private partnership designed
to reduce water pollution.
See how next on "CityStream."
♪♪
-Welcome back to city stream from Discovery Park.
As Earth Day nears,
we're reminded just how vital it is to protect our water supply.
In Seattle,
private developers are working with the city
to create bioswales.
What's a bioswale, you ask?
They are pathways filled with various types of plants,
mulch, and rocks that naturally filter runoff,
like this, preventing pollutants from entering storm drains.
Producer Randy Eng shows how the system works.
♪♪
-The storm water that we're putting in the lake
is contributing all sorts of bad things.
And so if we can improve the water quality
with new construction of a project,
it seems like it's a win-win for everybody.
♪♪
-So what goes in
is polluted with things like heavy metals,
oil, chemicals, tire particles.
And what comes out after it goes through the bioswale
is a lot cleaner than what came in.
It's unique because you're managing the water
on a private property,
but it's also unique given its size.
It's managing two to three acres of water
coming down off the hill.
That's something on the order of 2 1/2 million gallons
of polluted runoff.
You know, if we didn't partner on this,
then it wouldn't happen.
-We don't just look at it, you know,
how can we squeeze the most profit out of something?
It's what can we do that helps the community
or helps our environment
and that's important and it feels good in what you do
by contributing in that way.
♪♪
The fact of the matter,
it was going into the lake in the first place
and fortunately we found like-minded people at SPU.
We couldn't do it if we didn't have that teamwork
with everyone thinking
and saying this is a good thing and the right thing to do.
-If we can install these facilities all around Lake Union
and our other water bodies
and do it through partnerships that leverage resources
and are really efficient and faster,
you know, that's cleaner water for humans and fish
and that makes a lot of sense to me.
♪♪
-Finally we want to take a moment to remember our friend
and my best friend Matt Chan, longtime television producer,
community activist, political advisor,
and co-host of the podcast Chino y Chicano.
Matt recently lost his fight with kidney cancer
after a two-year battle.
Matt could be brash and bold,
but he also had a softer side and he was a loving grandfather.
On a recent episode of our podcast,
Matt spoke candidly about his health struggles
and about life and death.
-The reality is everyone checks out
and the family continues on.
I mean, that's what family's about.
Regardless of having cancer or not or just old age,
you know, that's just part of life.
And so you just have to kind of keep putting
things in perspective.
I mean, I've lost all my immediate family.
I mean, they've all passed away.
So I understand what death is about.
You know, I've been there when people have died.
So I understand what that transition is like.
-And one of the things that he started doing
is he got very involved
in the Chinatown International District community.
I think the one that really stood out
is that you may recall about, I don't know, a year or so ago,
maybe a little bit longer,
that King County tried to expand the homeless shelter
near the International District, the CID,
and Matt was part of the group that fought it.
-Because the story was not about us versus the unhoused.
My God, you know, who doesn't have empathy for the unhoused?
-Right.
-And the shelter that we were pushing against
was a good shelter.
The real question was
how underrepresented communities just don't have a voice.
Decisions are made that directly impact a community
and the community has no voice.
The long term effects are devastating.
And so I think every community needs to be heard.
I mean, that's, you know, so it's not about the unhoused.
It's really about being heard
because there is no reason on Earth
that these, you know,
the Chinatown International District needs to hold
the largest number of shelters in the city.
There's no reason for that.
-Right.
♪♪
-There's nothing more universally Asian
than a steaming bowl of rice.
-Matt used his storytelling skills
to help community organizations with their fundraising.
He also produced videos for candidates of color,
such as state Senator Joe Nguyen,
King County councilmember Girmay Zahilay,
Seattle City Council member Tanya Woo,
as well as Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho,
Toshiko Hasegawa, and Hamdi Mohamed.
Matt, cancer may have taken you from this life,
but you know, the thing is,
you're always going to be with me in spirit.
-You know, the future is uncertain.
-Yeah.
-But the future is always uncertain.
-It is.
-People don't realize that the future,
nothing is promised to you. -Right.
-I just have a little more certainty
about the finality of things.
I mean, I know that, you know,
things will end sooner than I would like,
but I need to be okay with how my life has gone.
And I think it's, you know, there's no regrets.
♪♪
-That's all for this episode of "CityStream"
from Discovery Park
on a beautiful day here in the Northwest.
We thank you for joining us.
If you'd like to see more of the Seattle Channel programming,
just go to our website, seattlechannel.org
and click on feature shows.
I'm Enrique Cerna. Thank you for joining us.
♪♪