The Port of Olympia will collect sediment samples around Budd Inlet in the coming months ahead of remedial cleanup efforts.
Cleanup itself is expected to start in 2028 or 2029.
“The investigation work’s not yet complete — way too many moving parts at this point — so I can’t tell you what the cleanup action will entail, how much it’s going to cost,” Port of Olympia Environmental Manager Jonathan Wolf said in a presentation to the Port Commission on Monday, Jan. 26. “There will be dredging. There will be natural recovery. There will be natural recovery. There will be monitored enhanced natural recovery. That’s about as much detail as I can give you.”
Budd Inlet is the southernmost arm of Puget Sound and supports a variety of marine life, including seabirds, marine mammals, fish and shellfish. It is surrounded on three sides by the City of Olympia and is considered the most populated inlet in the South Sound region, according to the Port of Olympia.
Contamination of the inlet stems from historical industrial activities dating back to the 1920s and presents a negative impact to human health, the ecology of south Puget Sound and maritime activities.
The Port of Olympia has been in a legal agreement with the state Department of Ecology since late 2008 to investigate contamination of Budd Inlett, evaluate possible cleanup actions and propose a plan to address the contamination.
The Port of Olympia has a total budget of $22 million for the investigative work. Of that budget, $16 million came from grants and appropriations and $6 million came from the port’s own funds.
As part of the contamination investigation, the Port of Olympia is in the process of testing samples of sediment throughout Budd Inlet.
Sediment sampling is necessary to determine the presence and level of sediment
contamination in support of the design of the in-water remedial action, according to the Port of Olympia.
Sediment sampling of Budd Inlet’s sub-area 2, which covers West Bay, was finished in 2024. Preliminary test results released in the fall of 2025 show the presence of surface dioxin and furans — highly toxic environmental pollutants — at roughly double the threshold for remedial action. That threshold is 19 nanograms per kilogram or, as Wolf described it, one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
“We’re not talking magnitudes of order here,” Wolf said.
Surface dioxin and furan levels were higher in the northern area of sub-section 2, with an approximate average 43.9 nanograms per kilogram. The approximate average of the southern samples is 28.4 nanograms per kilogram.
PCBs, metals and other toxic chemicals were also found in most of the samples, but in amounts below Department of Ecology screening levels.
Based on those results, the port anticipates that cleanup actions will likely need to include dredging, placing clean material over contaminated sediment, and habitat restoration.
Sediment sampling of Budd Inlet’s sub-area 3, covering the northern area of the inlet, and sub-area 1, covering East Bay, Log Pond, Upland Confined Disposal Facility and West Bay Park, will start at the end of February or early March and run for four to six weeks.
A total of 146 samples will be collected across 101 locations between the two sub-areas.
Those samples, like the samples collected from sub-area 2, will be sent off to a lab for testing.
The results will be compiled into data reports, which are expected to be finalized in late 2026 or early 2027 and sent to the Department of Ecology for review.
Wolf anticipates that the port will be ready to proceed with permits and an engineering plan for cleanup of sub-area 1 in 2027.
Sub-areas 2 and 3 require additional investigation and testing before cleanup plans for those areas are finalized, according to Wolf.
When all sub-area data are in hand, the port will finalize all associated reports, including sediment chemistry, source control, and engineering design, for each sub-area.
That work should result in final draft cleanup action plans sometime in 2028 or 2029, according to Wolf.
Based on available funding, cleanup should begin soon after.
The port also is developing source control plans looking at historical and ongoing sources of contamination to Budd Inlet in an effort to prevent recontamination.
For more information on the Budd Inlet Cleanup and Restoration project, visit https://portolympia.com/buddinlet/
