May 2026: GiveBIG to Mitigate Tire Wear Toxin 6PPD-q
Salmon need your help. Will you help us ensure clean water? Read on!
In the streams that flow through our communities in King and Snohomish County
Every time it rains, water moves across roads, parking lots, and highways, carrying something most people never see. Tires wear over time, releasing dust and particles that litter our roadways. A chemical called 6PPD-quinone (6PPD-q), a compound that is highly toxic to salmon, is concentrated in every gram of tire wear.
When storms hit, this chemical enters our streams in pulses. Sudden. Unavoidable. Toxic.
6PPD-q in microscopic amounts is toxic to aquatic life, lethal to coho salmon, and its in all our urban streams. Wanna do something about it? Yeah… so do we.
Pictured above: This diagram illustrates how urban stormwater transports pollution from roads into aquatic ecosystems. Rainfall washes tire wear particles and other contaminants from a roadway into a storm drain. The runoff is conveyed through underground pipes and discharged directly into a stream without treatment. At the outfall, polluted water enters salmon habitat, where fish are exposed to 6PPD-quinone, a toxic chemical derived from tire additives. The figure highlights the direct connection between urban runoff and impacts to aquatic life.
For salmon, there is no way around it.
6PPD-q is saturating urban waters. Highest concentrations are likely in the autumn when the dust and particles have accumulated on dry summer roads. Just in time for our native salmon runs to enter their urban migration. As they wait for those big rains and rising water levels in creeks they are being slammed with this toxic chemical.
But there is a way forward.
At the Three Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited, we are working upstream of the problem. We are identifying where this pollution enters our waters, tracking it during storm events, and developing solutions that stop it before it reaches critical habitat.
Pictured above: Three Rivers Chapter Operations Manager and Scientist Katey Queen deploying a passive sampling unit to measure 6PPD-q in a local stream.
This is what that work looks like on the ground:
Monitoring streams across King and Snohomish watersheds
Tracking storm-driven spikes in the toxicity of 6PPD-q
And building real, scalable mitigation systems like a retrofitted box full of sediment and naturally sourced materials to bind to pollutants on a stormwater input
Because the goal is not just to understand the problem: It is to intercept it.
Pictured above: Imagine a stormwater outfall during a rainstorm. Water rushes through a pipe, carrying everything from the road with it. Now imagine that same outfall fitted with a treatment system - a contained “box” that slows the water, filters contaminants, and captures toxic compounds before they ever reach the stream.
That is the future we are working toward.
Engineered solutions that can be installed at key points in the landscape. Systems that are maintainable by trained volunteers. Tools that turn knowledge into protection.
And this is where you come in.
Through GiveBIG, your support fuels this work directly from field monitoring to building and testing solutions that protect salmon where they need it most. Installation doesn’t go without its costs. Chemical testing isn’t cheap; it is also essential to demonstrate efficacy to show that our volunteer lead solution is working.
Right now, your impact goes even further.
A $5,000 match is in place through May 5! Every dollar you give is doubled!
Support local science-based solutions. Invest in cleaner water for fish and for our communities. Give by May 5 to double your impact!
Washington Gives - GiveBIG Campaign: https://mtyc.co/fyk7lf
Reading this after the 5th of May? You can still donate using these links or head to our donate page. Thanks for being a conservation champion!
Learn more about the issue: whatis6PPD-q.org
Want to learn more or connect with us? Attend an upcoming event!