Sumner proclaims Stormwater Awareness Week as students share award-winning outreach work

The Sumner City Council proclaimed October 2025 as Stormwater Awareness Week and heard a city presentation outlining local stormwater projects, maintenance and outreach efforts. The council meeting included brief presentations by two Sumner High School students who described their FCCLA stormwater outreach, labeling storm drains and classroom education.

Engineering Manager Robbie Wright read the proclamation into the record and summarized the city's stormwater approach: projects, maintenance, education and technical assistance. Wright said Sumner maintains more than 150 stormwater ponds and cited local efforts including tree plantings along Salmon Creek, a goat-maintenance program for vegetation, and retrofitting filters where feasible. "We do projects, maintenance, education, assistance," Wright said, describing on-site Best Management Practices such as rain gardens and bioswales.

Students Evie and Caitlin from Sumner High School's FCCLA club described a sustainability competition project centered on three household behaviors—picking up pet waste, reducing lawn fertilizer use and proper car care—and recounted outreach to elementary schools, a STEM fair, social-media posts and placement of 27 storm-drain stickers in town. The students said they earned a silver at state and then won gold at nationals, finishing fifteenth in the country; Evie said, "This experience has been really rewarding for us, and we wanna thank the city for the opportunity to work with them."

The proclamation and presentations were informational. City staff said the Washington Stormwater Center partners with local governments and the proclamation urges community participation in outreach events and pollution-prevention practices.