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2017 Autumn | Education & Outreach, Natural Science & Restoration, Sustainability

Using GIS Data to Identify Illegal Stormwater Dischargers

Student(s):

Daniel Salka

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Sue Joerger

Partner(s):

  • Puget Soundkeeper

Faculty advisor(s):

Yen-Chu Weng, Program on the Environment, University of Washington

During my project, I interned at Puget Soundkeeper and helped to develop a method for identifying illegal stormwater dischargers. My project involved a literature review and performing spatial analysis of data using ArcGIS software. In ArcGIS, we used public data to find illegal stormwater dischargers, while focusing on protecting endangered salmon habitat and finding clusters of businesses in order to create an efficient, relevant method for finding polluters. This project resulted in a specific method for using data to find illegal dischargers, as well as a report detailing how a similar project could be replicated and improved in the future.