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Puget Sound Water Quality Authority 



Person Interviewed: Nancy McKay, Executive Director 



The Puget Sound Water Quality Authority is actually an outgrov^rth of an 

 advisory committee that was set up to comment on issues related to water 

 quality in Puget Sound. The 1985, the state legislatiu-e formally 

 established the Puget Sound Water Authority, granting it authority to be 

 the planning entity for Puget Sound water quality issues. 



The board of the authority consists of nine members: the Director of the 

 Washington Department of Ecology, the Director of the State Lands 

 Commission, and seven citizens, one from each of the Congressional 

 districts touching the Sound. 



The basic responsibility of the agency is to develop a water quality plan 

 and revise it every two years. It also commeiits on major activities by any 

 of the local governmental entities that could have an impact on the Sound. 

 It is also required to submit a periodic report to the legislature, and this 

 has provided an important vehicle for recommending needed legislation 

 and for getting media attention on important issues. 



Several years ago the Authority was realigned slightly, and the Director of 

 the Department of Ecology is now automatically the Chair of the 

 Authority. There are those who support this arrangement and others who 

 question it. Those who support it note that about 50% of the Authority's 



Final Draft - September 15, 1993 96 



