Environmental Quality Measure

This roll-up measure summarizes the degree DNRP is achieving its Environmental Quality goal:

Deliver high quality environmental services that protect and restore the environment, enhance our community, and protect public health and safety.

2006 results

DNRP's rating for the performance measures that support this goal is yellow — signifying results are within 10 percent of target.

Areas under this goal where DNRP performed well:

• Permit and facility compliance for the wastewater, solid waste and stormwater programs

Areas under this goal where DNRP performance approaches target:

• Land and resource conservation
• Residents living within 1.5 miles of the regional trail network

Areas under this goal where DNRP performance needs improvement:

• Flood Safety (the comprehensive King County Flood Hazard Management Plan was recently approved)

Areas under this goal where data is insufficient:

• Capital investment (a countywide mechanism for measuring progress on capital investment was established in early 2007, but cannot be applied retroactively to 2006 capital projects)

Key influencing factors

DNRP divisions and programs devote much effort into ensuring facility and permit compliance, which are consistently achieved. This achievement is based in large part on infrastructure maintenance and upgrades through capital improvement and asset management work.

The flood safety rating was influenced by the timing of the development of the flood hazard management plan — because the plan was adopted late in 2006 and formally adopted by the Metropolitan King County Council in January 2007, there was no time to make progress on implementation.

Successes within the land and resource conservation measures are due in part to the relationships that rural and resource program staff have built with forest and farm landowners.

This is the first year DNRP has measured the percentage of residents living within 1.5 miles of King County's regional trail network. Cooperative relationships with cities and historic investment in new trails allow such a high percentage of residents to have easy access to King County's 175 miles of regional trails.

Strategies going forward

DNRP will continue to improve processes and systems to ensure its wastewater plants, transfer stations and landfills, and the stormwater program in unincorporated King County meet or exceed regulatory requirements. The department will seek to increase the monitoring of the environmental conditions that our programs seek to improve, which will help ensure permit compliance.

Over the next few years, DNRP will develop and implement new ways of tracking progress on capital projects, including a scorecard for project characteristics, such as energy efficiency and other sustainability features.

With the new King County Flood Control Zone District in place, DNRP will implement its flood hazard management plan which advances both public safety goals and ecological improvements.

DNRP's land and resource conservation efforts will expand to better use all of the tools available, including public acquisition of key parcels and promotion of enhanced stewardship on private lands, plus innovative solutions such as King County's nationally acclaimed transfer of development rights program.

Through the proposed acquisition of the Eastside rail corridor from Renton to Snohomish, DNRP hopes to significantly expand the regional trail network and provide a viable commuting option. Other projects could include establishing connectors to link separate trails into a more complete network.

More information about King County's Facility/Permit Compliance, Land and Resource Conservation, Regional Trail Access, Flood Safety, and Capital Investment is available by continuing to the pages for these performance measures:

• Facility/Permit Compliance
• Land and Resource Conservation
• Regional Trail Access
• Flood Safety
• Capital Investment

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