Black Diamond NOW

Want An Incentive To Compost And Recycle - Downsize Your Garbage Can

One very simple way to increase the amount of waste that you either compost or recycle is to get a smaller garbage can.  With the new garbage service rate increases enacted earlier this year, we decided to downsize our garbage can from a 60 gallon container supplied by Allied Waste to a 20 gallon can that we supply ourselves.  Over the years we have become better at composting food waste and recycling the obvious candidates - paper and cardboard.  But, it's easy to get lazy and just dump it in the garbage.  So off on a new experiment we went.

First realization is that a 20 gallon garbage can is really small, so we have little room for error or egregious consumption and waste.  Our second realization is that we have been dumping a lot more recyclable and compostable material in the garbage than we had thought.  And finally, by adopted better habits we can save money in the process.  Following is a comparison of monthly garbage rates we are currently paying versus current rates based on our old habits.

• One 60 gallon cart supplied by Allied Waste with weekly service - $21.58/mo.
• One 20 gallon can supplied by us with weekly service - $8.14/mo.

If you really want to conserve, you can also sign up for once a month service with a 32 gallon can that you supply for just $4.91/mo.  There are other rate saving options also available in between but if you want help paying for your monthly smart phone bill, here you go.  And talk about helping your kids and grand kids learn good habits in sustainability - composting and recycling is a great and yet simple place to start.

What should we put in the Garbage Can?  According to Allied Waste's web site, following is a list of appropriate "garbage" items:

• Aerosol Cans (empty)
• Animal waste or pet litter (bagged)
• Ashes (bagged)
• Carbon Paper
• CD's
• Ceramics or Dishes
• Detergent Boxes
• Diapers
• Empty Motor Oil Containers
• Greasy Car Parts
• Lids or Bottle Caps
• Medical Needeles or Sharps (unless packed in a container)
• Mirrors or Window Glass
• Paper Towels, Plates or Napkins
• Plastics or Aluminum contaminated with food
• Plastic or Waxed Cardboard
• Plastic Cups, Plates, Utensils or Plastic Takeout Containers
• Styrofoam Food Takeout Containers or other Styrofoam
• Tissue or Foil Wrapping Paper
• Tissues or Toilet Paper
• Toxic Containers (empty)
• Waxed Paper or Cartons
• Light Bulbs

Do not put in the Garbage Can:

• Hazordous Waste
• Computers, Televisions and Cell Phones
• Electronics
• Fluorescent Tubes & Bulbs
• Liquids
• Medical Waste
• Wet Paint
• Yard Debris (put in yard recycling)

For those "non garbage can" items noted above, our City annually holds a recycling event in early March.  This is a great opportunity to get rid of the really "bad stuff" and do it safely.  Will keep you apprised of the exact dates.

Two solid waste handlers currently service our tri-city area of Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond - Allied Waste (once known as Rabanco) and Waste Management.  While "garbage" collected by these companies throughout King County (excluding the City of Seattle) is all dumped at King County's Cedar Hills Landfill, recycling operations for both yard waste and home recycle products are self contained and unique to each company.  Their incentive - the less they dump in land fill, the less their costs will be.  In addition, the more they can recover of value, the less their costs become.  Following is a summary of the new products most typically made from recycled materials:

1. Paper becomes new paper
2. Cardboard becomes new cardboard
3. Newspaper is made into fruit packing trays and new newspaper
4. Glass gets made into new blass bottles and jars
5. Aluminum cans are made into new aluminum cans
6. Tin cans are made into rebar for construction projects
7. Plasic bottles become new fleece clothing and carpeting
8. Plastic containers are made into shoe inserts, recycling containers, bins and buckets
9. Plastic bags are made into decking and building products

One more interesting aside - what impact has the "great recession" had on waste being dumped in the County's landfill.  Believe it or not there was a more than a 30% reduction in tons of landfill waste being dumped at the County's Cedar Hills site from 2007 til 2010.  What does this say about our consumptive habits?  I should also offer kudos to the County for making big reductions in operating costs during this period despite the fact that many of their costs are fixed and do not vary based upon the volume of waste landfilled.

I found the recycling operation at Allied Waste (also now known as Republic Services) to be really interesting.  For more info, be sure to play the video:

 

 

Brightwater, Duwamish Clean-Up and Biosolids - An Update

Our Regional Water Quality Committee was recently briefed by King County staff regarding some key accomplishments for 2011.  The new wastewater treatment plant known as Brightwater is now up and running and leads the list of accomplishments - photo follows.

With the many delays, cost overruns and tunneling problems galore, it's been a difficult birth to be sure.  But the treatment plant is now up and operating and producing first class effluent quality.  If we maintain a really long term perspective, Brightwater will eventually prove to be an important asset to our region.  Time to look on the bright(water) side - no pun intended.  The facility also has a great educational exhibit that is very user friendly for those who wish to learn more about water and wastewater - it's on my list for taking our grandchildren to visit.  It's that good and that educational.

Next, we have the cleanup of the Green/Duwamish river waterway.

We all know that the Duwamish as it enters Puget Sound is an important economic engine for the region.  We also know that it's a super-fund site that must be cleaned up.  Fortunately, we are getting closer to an approved Duwamish Superfund Cleanup plan and funding strategy.  And by the way, "superfund" is an oxymoron - any and all funding for cleanup will be local.

And last, let me highlight biosolids.  Ever wonder what happens to all of the sludge generated by the wastewater treatment process?  Fortunately, because these solids are nutrient rich (nitrogen and phosphorus) which are much needed to fertilize agricultural crops, every pound of solids generated today are used to fertilze crops - mostly for fertilizing hops production in the Yakima Valley.  This is critical for all us hop heads who love IPA's.  In the future, get ready for branded compost coming from King County - in direct competion with Cedar Grove Compost which is what we use today.  It's all good - much better than the national brands and we look forward to having more local choices of the "good stuff".

Managing Our Groundwater Resources - Or Not?

Groundwater represents a vital natural resource and is critical to maintaining both healthy fisheries and potable water supplies in our region.  Yet, the more I learn about the sometimes arcane groundwater regulatory environment, it appears to me to be the least managed of our state's natural resources. 

A recent article in Crosscut.com focused on groundwater being pumped from wells to supply giant feedlots in Eastern Washington.  The volume of water pumped from these wells is incredible and in several cases exceeds all of the water our City of Black Diamond will need or use in the next 30 years.   Appropriately so, our city is limited in the daily and annual volumes we can withdraw from our springs.  Yet east of the mountains, we have a dry region of the state where feedlot operators can pump unlimited volumes, jeopradizing long term water supplies to farmers and communities in the area.  Bizarre.

On the westside, we have our own controversy.  The way current law reads, if you build a home in the county and outside of an Urban Growth Area (UGA), you are free to put in a well and use the water to irrigate up to 1/2 acre of landscape on your property without limit to the amount of water you can withdraw.  From the standpoint of avoiding depletion of our groundwater resources, this may be ok in some areas - but everywhere? 

The biggest local controversy appears to be between the Covington Water District, which supplies potable water to area homes but where homeowners use wells to irrigate their yards.  This deprives the District of revenues that they might otherwise have (used to finance District water supply capacity investment) and since the District also pumps significant volumes of water from local groundwater sources, they are loath to see these resources further depleted.  The District's policy adopted last year is to no longer supply potable water to new homes that choose to irrigate their yards with well water.  Needless to say, homeowners are not happy. 

I have no dog in this hunt other than protecting our groundwater resources.  It would be nice if we had some facts and data about this groundwater resource, recharge rates and how much withdrawal can safely be allowed without depleting the resource and protecting our fisheries.

King County Parks & Natural Resources - A Huge Asset

The above graphic shows a map of King County and the Parks and natural resource assets that we have here.  Click on it to enlarge. I was really surprised at the extent of these assets including the following county profile:

Features
2,131 square miles
1,931,249 population
14th most populated county in the U.S.
760 lakes and reservoirs
975 wetlands
38.15 inches average annual precipitation
6 major river systems
3,000 miles of streams
100 miles of marine coastline
850,000 acres of forestlands

In addition, we have:

500 flood facilities and revetments totaling more than 119
miles of riverbank
26,000 acres of parks and natural lands
200 parks and 175 miles of regional trails
353 miles of underground wastewater pipes and tunnels
8 solid waste transfer stations and 2 rural drop boxes
920 acre Cedar Hills Regional Landfill
2 major regional wastewater treatment plants with
1 under construction; 2 smaller treatment plants
4 combined sewer overflow treatment plants
2,369 commercial/residential stormwater control facilities
700 low impact development sites

I continue to be very impressed with King County's Natural Resources & Parks website and the vast amount of information available to us.  Check it out.

Landsburg Headworks Circa 1899

In an earlier post, I focused on Taylor - A Mining Town Condemned.  Though once a thriving community of nearly 1,000, concern existed that coal and clay mining in the area was contaminating the Cedar River and the City of Seattle's principal water supply source.  Located just a few miles south of Taylor between Hobart and Ravensdale is Landsburg where the diversion dam, an intake canal, settling basin and gatehouse were built across the Cedar River in 1899 to supply Seattle's growing water needs.  This turned out to be quite a public works project as can be seen in the following photos.

Photo courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, WWDL0568, Anders Beer Wilse, cira 1899

The above photo shows the headworks under construction.

Photo courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, WWDL0541, Anders Beer Wilse, circa 1899

The above photo shows the intake diversion dam underconstruction.  The two holes you see in the brick structure divert flow into pipe that ultimately extends the 29 miles to Seattle.

Photo courtesty of Museum of History & Industry, SHS8670, circa 1930

Additional expansion occurred in 1930, further increasing the size of the transmission pipe.  Now that's what I call big pipe, especially for the time!  I wonder if the shift from clay pipe to concrete pipe had occurred about then?

The adverse consequence of this new dam was that it effectively blocked salmon spawning on a prime 17 mile segment of the river further upstream.  Correcting this and providing fish passage upstream has been one of the early priority salmon restoration projects in the Puget Sound region.  Quoting from Seattle Public Utilities:

"The construction of Landsburg fish passage facilities at the dam and aqueduct crossing were completed in 2003. The facilities are comprised of four primary components:

1. A full channel, boulder/chute fishway downstream of the aqueduct crossing to provide easy passage over the aqueduct and improved habitat conditions

2. Fish ladder and sorting facility at the diversion dam,

3. Tip-out downstream passage gate to provide safe passage for downstream migrating fish, and

4. Special screens on the municipal water intake to route downstream migrating fish away from the municipal water intake and safely back into the river.

The numbers of fish passing above the dam have generally increased since construction of the passage facilities. Early monitoring suggests that fish are performing well in this new habitat and recolonization is progressing well."

If you have an opportunity, be sure to visit Landsburg where you can connect with the beginning of the Cedar River Trail that can take you all the way to Renton and Lake Washington.  We have logged many a mile on this trail and consider it one of our funner jogging and biking trails.  The many river crossings also make it a great place to go if you want to observe fall Sockeye salmon runs.  Enjoy.

State Recreation & Conservation Office Grant Funding - Firearms?

I was recently doing some homework about grant funding for 2012 provided by the State Recreation & Conservation Office.  Of particular interest to me was funding provided for Salmon Recovery efforts.  In the process, I learned about some surprising if not disturbing projects that are currently being funded.  Topping the list for me of questionable spending was the category Firearms and Archery Range Recreation.  I'm not a firearms enthusiast but the issue for me was not so much whether firearms and archery qualify as bonafide "recreation" that merit state recreation funding but that the funding was going to private gun clubs.  If you don't belong to any of these clubs or pay a fee to them, you can't use their facilities.  I don't get it.  And consider how are State Parks are now being decimated. 

Following is the full list of funded projects:

Why in the world should the public provide grant funding to upgrade the Clubhouse of the Renton Fish and Game Club or any of these clubs for that matter?   For more detail on these projects and others, follow this link to Recreation and Conservation Office.

I did find that there is quite a lot of funding going directly and indirectly to salmon recovery as the following summary  list illustrates.

I believe that the roughly $540,000 grant awarded to purchase an easement for trails in the Icy Creek area came through the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.  Hopefully, such acquisition can be completed as this would be a significant asset to our community.

King Conservation District Update

In a post last June, I focused on the King Conservation District (KCD) - A Best Kept Secret.  Their mission is "promoting sustainable uses of natural resources through responsible stewardship".  A great goal.  Based on a recent survey conducted by KCD, it appears that they are doing quite well in the eyes of those they serve.  One of the survey questions that particularly caught my interest related to top priorities for the District.  To my surprise and delight, stormwater topped the list.

Five years ago, I doubt that stormwater would have been in the top 5 priorities, yet may well be the biggest key to long term efforts to save/protect Puget Sound and our fisheries.  Its gratifying to see how widely understood/accepted this priority has now become.

One other note, KCD is having a Native Bareroot Plant Sale. You can pre-order plants on January 27 for early March delivery.  Sounds like a great opportunity.  Follow this KCD link for more info.

First Teacher

 

What a wonderful way to educate our children.  Congratulations to Courtney Feeney for such an innovative program.

Is Solar Power Dead In The U.S.?

Judging from all of the publicity surrounding the collapse of Solyndra, a solar power company backed by Federal loans, one might conclude that solar in the U.S. is dead.  In addition, we hear more and more about cheap shale sourced natural gas (see yesterday's post re Jevon's Paradox).  So where is solar today?

Remarkably, it appears that installations of solar power will set a new record in the U.S. for 2011 - this even in a recessionary period and during an abysmal housing market.  According to Renewable Energy World, there were 449 megawatts of grid connected PV installed in the U.S. in the third quarter alone - that's enough to power 449,000 homes for one hour at 1 megawatt per 1,000 homes.  Divide by 24 hours and you still have a big number.  By the way, PV stands for "photovoltaic" sources of power and refers to the actual physical process by which sunlight is converted into electricity via a solar cell.

What's going on to account for these positive trends for solar in the face of current economic realities and competition from alternative energy sources such as natural gas?  It's called economics 101!

According to the source Green Tech Solar, the cost of solar decreased by 30% in 2011 alone.  H'mm - there does in fact appear to be a relationship between volume and price.  At least in my judgement, this is where a longer term and trend perspective on the part of our legislators and leadership is critical.  If you are just following Wall Street from day to day, you won't get it.

 

Jevon's Paradox Redeaux

Coal burning factories in 19th century Manchester England, credit Wikipedia.

In a post earlier this year, I focused on Energy Efficiency & Jevon's Paradox.  In economics, the Jevons paradox  is the proposition that technological progress that increases the efficiency with which a resource is used, tends to increase (rather than decrease) the rate of consumption of that resource.  The increased efficiency of coal extraction literally fueled the industrial revolution in England.  As a result, energy consumption increased dramatically as did industrial production.

When oil was discovered in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century, coal (old technology) declined, oil became king and energy consumption once again took a great leap forward as did industrial production.  For the last 20 years or so, we seem to have been in a very different cycle.  Despite technological advances in oil exploration and extraction methods, the marginal cost to produce these incremental sources of energy has often exceeded the cost of just importing more oil, particularly when the environmental consequences are considered.  As a result, today the U.S. is heavily dependent on imported oil with profound implications for our economy. 

It's natural, therefore, to see increasing focus on both energy conservation and greater development of "renewable" sources of energy such as geothermal, tidal, wind, bio-fuel and solar.  In light of this history, I was particularly intrigued by a recent article in the Seattle Times regarding the Shale Boom and how exploiting our country's natural gas resources could once again put the U.S. atop the world in energy production and independence.  Already, we see casualties in the "renewables" market caused by increasing supplies of cheaper natural gas.  Even the Centralia coal fired power plant here in Washington will soon be converting from coal to natural gas - for both environmental and economic reasons.

What would Jevon have to say about all of this?  I surely couldn't say, but his paradox remains worth considering as we make our own choices for the future.  What are we willing to sacrifice (e.g., water quality and environmental degradation) in order to obtain energy for the future?  At least for me, conservation and renewable continue to top my list of of criteria for the future.  Breathing the air and drinking the water in Manchester or even Black Diamond in the early 20th century is not a goal we should ascribe to.  We can do better.

 

Fall Colors

After last night's city council meeting I am spent as it finally ended after 11:30 pm.  Great input from our citizens in Black Diamond on complex issues. I am proud of our community.    Earlier this week, I posted a photo of another spectacular sunrise.  This photo is of a sunset this fall.

Photo taken in October 2011.

Cleaning Up The Green/Duwamish River Watershed

As many of you are aware, our lower Green River/Duwamish watershed is designated as a Superfund site with lots of legacy contamination as shown above.  This contamination resulted historically from many of the early aerospace (Boeing) and other manufacturing industries that initially formed along the Duwamish. The levels of existing pollution are well documented but what to do about it is a work in progress.  And just so you know, the term Superfund is hollow - there is no fund.  Any cleanup of this pollution must be paid for by current or past property owners and/or current government agencies.  Expected cleanup costs range from $200 million up to more than double this amount.

Our Regional Water Quality Committee was briefed last week about clean-up efforts and schedules.  Some key takeaways for me:

1. The biggest risk to humans appears to be the bottom dwelling fish and shellfish that reside in the Duwamish.  Because salmon spend very little time during their spawning cycle in the Duwamish, there seems to be very little risk here to our fisheries. 
2. Young people ages 0 to 5 are the highest health risk population.
3. PAH (petroleum derivitives) from stormwater appear to be the biggest current risk for adding further contamination to the Green/Duwamish.  Though PAH's may not kill fish, they do appear to have a very significant impact on their health and long term life span.
4. Cleanup can be dicey - dredging up this material can cause more problems than letting it lie as evidenced by findings from the clean-up efforts at Commencement Bay in Tacoma.

What can we expect to see in the future?  We will likely see more capping, less dredging and increased use of granular activated carbon to contain legacy contamination.  Also, we may need to adjust our expectations - it is highly unlikely that we will ever return to natural background levels of pollution.  The Duwamish is likely never to be pristine again.  All the more reason for protecting the middle and upper Green before it gets defiled.

Current cleanup timelines appear to be problematic.  Why on earth should it take until 2018 to begin cleanup efforts?

 

State Parks - A Disaster In The Making

In our community, we are blessed with some of the most beautiful scenic areas and natural wonders in King County, if not the entire State of Washington.  The Green River Gorge spanning the 12 miles from Kanaskat-Palmer State Park in the northeast quadrant to Flaming Geyser State Park in the southwest is an amazing area.  We even have Nolte State Park and the Bass Lake, Beaver Lake and Dandy Lake complex located in between.  In total, we have over 1,000 acres of spectacular open space.  So what does the future hold?  Good question.  Some of this open space land is owned by State Fish & Wildlife, some by State Dept. of Natural Resources, some by King County and by far the biggest chunks by Washington State Parks.  For those not aware, our State Parks are now in fiscal crisis.  Historically, Parks have relied on contributions from the State's General Fund.  Given the State's current fiscal crisis, State Parks have been asked to transform itself from a "State Supported Agency" into a "Fee For Service Agency".

This transition is proving to be much harder than policy makers would have hoped.  Tuesday morning, Courtney Feeney (Friends of Flaming Geyser) and I attended a special session of the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission in Olympia.  How depressing.  I fully understand the difficulty of making major organization transformations such as this but even with all my grey hairs and scars from leading past organization change efforts at Weyerhaeuser and elsewhere, I couldn't believe what I heard today.  THE key to success of any fundamental organizational change/business transformation is that leadership take responsibility for making the changes necessary.  Clearly, this is not the case for State Parks today.

First, we heard a diatribe from Parks Commission Chairman Joe Tallar about how unfair this all was and how current circumstances were the direct result of failures of legislatures in the past and present.  Teapartyesk in its blaming of the dems.  If you are a Parks person, not very inspiring or constructive leadership in the evaluation of alternatives given current realities.  Then we heard from staff.  Though I understand current angst, I once again heard the theme "it's not our problem", "we are victims" - we know that we are going to destroy your Parks, but blame the legislature, not us.  So long as this attitude remains, we are headed for disaster, at least in my opinion. 

So we then got the numbers.  Guess how many permanent employees are being cut from on the ground field employees?  Over 220 out of just 300 field personnel are being axed - these are our park rangers and maintenance personnel.  The dollar savings of these cuts as presented by staff is $7 million.  How many are being cut from HQ staff - 15 or less.  The dollar savings of HQ staff cuts is $1.3 million. H'mmm.  Let's cut our field staff nearly 75% but headquarters staff cuts are less than 17%?  What's wrong with this picture?   I am more than upset - not because the legislature is requiring that State Parks become a self supporting entity, but because the Park service is headed in the direction of absolutely descimating and destroying our parks system while retaining a large HQ staff - and even worse, they deny any responsibility to fix it.  It's time for a change in Parks leadership!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For more on the numbers, follow this link to State Parks.

State Parks - What Does The Future Hold?

Given Washington State's current fiscal challenges, the future of State Parks is very much in doubt.  Following is a summary of Parks funding originally passed by the Legislature for the mid year 2011 to mid year 2013 biennium.

Unfortunately, there are two big problems.  Discover Pass revenues are coming in well below expectations and may not reach even $20 million over this two year period.  In addition, due to the State's current fiscal crises, further cuts in funding from General Fund sources must be made and will go away altogether in the next biennium.  Fortunately, fees from direct park services such as revenue from camping and $5 license tab donations seem to be holding up reasonably well.

As a result, it would appear that a fundamental restructuring of how State Parks conducts its business is needed.  Recognizing how important it is that we keep all three of our local State Parks open (Flaming Geyser, Nolte and Kanaskat Palmer) and keep them in good operating condition, I have been doing some research re how Parks currently spends it's money and where human resources are now allocated.  Here is some of what I am finding:

For your reference, our area parks are located withing the Northwest Region.  Kanaskat Palmer actually generates revenue exceeding direct park expenditures.

From the chart above, you can see that our parks overall generate quite a bit of revenue for direct services provided, like camping fees, conference center fees etc.  Looking at it this way, keeping all of our parks open with current on the ground staffing levels is not nearly so daunting.  Current levels of income from the Discover Pass (even at today's low levels), parking tab fees and dedicated funds substantially exceed this gap.  So where is all the money being spent?

Well, as you can see, current direct spending on parks is actually less than money now being spent for other things in State Parks - principally overhead.  If you look at current staffing levels and where they are located (thanks to the help of Senator Pam Roach and her staff), this is what we find:

What the above data seem to tell us is that Region and HQ staffing currently eats up what appears to be a substantially disproportionate share of Parks resources compared to most other organizations.  At least intuitively, we might also expect that the average compensation for each HQ employee to substantially exceed that for direct on the ground park employees - Rangers, maintenance personnel and park aides.  In private business - if we have 1 staff/management position for every 8 to 10 on the ground operating personnel, this would be high overhead. In schools, 1 administrator to 5 teachers would seem to be high.  In State Parks, it's currently 1 staff/management position for less than 2 on the ground personnel.  H'mmmmmm!

More on this subject in later posts.

 

Beaver Lake Tree Planting Event - Help Us Restore This Property

Last Saturday we had Make A Difference Day and did battle with himalayan blackberry vines.  This Saturday (Oct. 29) we are looking for volunteers to help us restore Beaver Lake to the next level - achieving a long term "natural state".  With over 1,000 trees already planted, we have lots yet to go including 1,300 more trees planned for planting this weekend.  Come help us starting at 10 am.  Become a member of the Middle Green River Coalition for 2012 for the bargain sum of $25 and contribute to preserving the last best places in King County. 

Beaver Lake is part of the Bass Lake, Beaver Lake and Dandy Lake complex located just west of SR169 and south of the Green River Gorge toward Enumclaw. It alls drains into the Green River through Christie creek just east of Flaming Geyser State Park.  To get there, follow SR 169 south toward Enumclaw.  Go over the Green River Gorge Bridge and back up the hill.  Turn right on 383rd Street.  You will see large homes up on the hill to your right.  Follow this road and you eventually find yourself at Bearver Lake which is on your right.  Another great opportunity to help improve and restore natural areas within our community.

Covington Water District - Serving A Big Part Of Our Community

The Covington Water District currently serves a significant part of our community concentrated in the area immediately surrounding Lake Sawyer.  As can be seen from the above service area map, the District also serves the cities of Covington and Maple Valley and big parts of unincorporated King County.  Their service area totals about 50 square miles - quite a large area.  I recently had the opportunity to meet with District General Manager Gwenn Maxfield to better understand the district, it's sources of water supply and future plans.

A significant source of water supply for the District is a series of wells located very close to Lake Sawyer just north and west of the lake and less that 100 yards from our home.  In addition, note all of the areas in pink on this map - they are all independent water systems that rely on wells for their source of supply.  Because wells can deplete groundwater resources, with potential adverse impact on lake water levels and stream flows, I was very interested to learn more about the districts wells and their underlying hydrogeology. 

First question - do the district's wells cause Lake Sawyer water levels to decline in the summer due to groundwater depletion?  Based on a hydrogeologic assessment report completed in the 1980's, it appears that the answer to this question is NO.  The wells draw water from groundwater sources not connected with the lake and therefore have no direct impact.  In addition, it appears that groundwater flows are basically from east to west.  With the wells located west of the lake, they would be downstream, not upstream, and therefore would not impact lake water levels even if they were hydrogeologically connected. 

However, due to the westerly flows, groundwater pumped from these wells can have an adverse impact on streams located further west - in this case Soos Creek which drains into the Green River and supports a major salmon and steelhead hatchery.  Reduced groundwater means reduced stream flows, particularly in the summer and fall.  Reduced stream flows result in higher water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen levels - not good for salmon.  Therefore, my second question focused on total district water supply sources and future plans.

For perspective, the 222nd Wellfield has been the largest historical source of water supply for the district and this is the one located near our home just west of north Lake Sawyer.  Big changes in the future.  The Covington Water District is now a "partner" with the City of Tacoma and one other water district with access to water supplied from the Green River at the Howard Hanson Dam.  Tacoma remains the largest partner with an 83% share, but the Covington Water District now has a significant new source of water for the future.  As can be seen from the graphic above, Covington Water District supply now substantially exceeds demand for quite some time.  And editorially, I should add that the surplus is actually much higher than these data indicate.  Historically, conservation measures have proven far more effective than forecast and all water supply planners want to have a significant safety factor built in.  That's just the nature of the beast.  For more on this topic, follow this link to Water Conservation - A Pacific Northwest Success Story.

What this means operationally, according to Gwenn Maxfield, is that the District will likely begin shifting operational priorities.  The wells which have historically been the main district workhorse of supply, will become more of a backup just used to accomodate peak demand.  The less water that is pumped from these wells, the less electricity that is needed and the more money the district can save.  This is still a work in process with more interties and connections yet to be made, but the trend is headed in this direction.  And from my perspective, this is good news for Soos Creek and the Green River watershed. 

I have tons more info and data should you have other questions - just let me know.  Thanks again to Gwenn Maxfield for being so gracious and forthcoming in answering all of my questions.

 

Auburn Narrows Restoration - Some History

Thanks again to King County Property Services and their iMap feature, I thought it would be fun to see what this property located just west of the Hwy 18 bridge across the Green River looked like historically.  The following aerial photo was taken in 1936.  Click on the photo to enlarge.

Pretty much farmland.  Notice how wide the Green River was back then, no doubt due to the frequent flooding.  At some point, levees were installed in this stretch of the river to protect these farmlands from seasonal flooding.  Also, note that the Hwy 18 bridge appears to be nothing more than a country road back then.

Fast forward to 2002 and we have pretty much the same picture except that active farming had ceased by this time and the impact of channeling of Green River flows can clearly be seen.  The current Hwy 18 bridge is also very visible.

As shown in the photo that follows, site restoration efforts began in 2005.

Three major efforts were begun.  1st was the dredging of a small side stream that young salmon could use for protection and to get food on their way to Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean.  The sidestream is shown in the upper center left of the graphic.  From what I understand, no sooner was this sidestream established but they found young fish hiding and feeding - essential habitat if they are to survive their long journey.  The second part of restoration focused on wetlands restoration.  Thus we find the pond like area and other site work.  Finally, the levee was removed and much of the site work we see above was involved with filling in areas with soil taken from the levee.

Next is an aerial view from 2007.

By this time, tree planting had begun on a large scale and the side stream was really maturing as were wetlands areas. 

I haven't found a suitable current aerial photo but can tell you from my site visit a couple of weeks ago, this site has changed dramatically since then.  So much more tree canopy and bird habitat.  For those who missed my earlier post re Transfer Mitigation Credits and current restoration activities, follow the link.  This site is a great work in progress.

A Few Pictures From Shadow's Frog Frolic Event Earlier This Saturday 9/10

The varieties of moss in the bog are amazing.

Four varieties in this one picture.

Mounds upon mounds.

And the forest cover is incredible by itself.  For more on SHADOW (Save Habitat and Diversity of Wetlands), follow the link above.  Great place with a wonderful education program.  Thanks all for a fun day. 

The music, food and people were awesome.  Sorry, I focused these pictures on what I love - the native ecology at SHADOW.  Next time will publish more pictures about the people who have done so much to create this special protected area so that we can all enjoy it.

Transfer Mitigation Credits (TMCs) - A New Tool For Achieving Environmental Mitigation?

Above is a picture taken on Thursday of Auburn Narrows, a site owned by King County along the Green River just west of the Hwy 18 bridge.  As shown above, parts of this site are totally infested with reed canary grass, canada thistles and other weed invasives.  Over the years, King County has undertaken significant efforts to restore the site (encompassing several hundred acres) to a more natural environment, targeted at improving fisheries, wetlands remediation and habitat restoration.  Results to date are impressive with several levies along the river removed or lowered and thousands of trees planted.  Migrating young salmon now have a natural environment in which to feed, grow and hide on their way to Puget Sound and ultimately the Pacific Ocean.  But much remains to be done.  It is a long term effort as all restoration projects tend to be.  The Middle Green River Coalition (MGRC) recently received a grant to complete Phase 5 of this restoration at Auburn Narrows in the area pictured above, partnering with King County to do the work consistent with County specifications.  Earlier this year, I reported on similar grant funded efforts by the MGRC for restoration of Beaver Lake - for more information on Beaver Lake restoration, follow this link and this link.  I will post more on Beaver Lake project progress as well as Auburn Narrows in the future.

So what are Transfer Mitigation Credits or TMC's?  Well, at this point they are little more than concept with a long ways to go yet before they become formally adopted as an accepted program. As a starting point for the concept, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the County's Transfer Development Rights (TDR) program.  TDR's are a tool long advocated by the Cascade Land Conservancy for preserving and conserving public open space and forestland free from urban development pressures. The concept of Transfer Mitigation Credits or TMC's differs in that it recognizes that while county, state and federal acquisition of land helps us preserve many environmentally critical lands, these lands in the past have often been "abused" by prior owners or uses and require significant efforts focused on "restoration" to achieve their full benefit and potential.  These lands sitting idle as they often do does little to enhance our fisheries, wildlife habitat or open space that benefits the public.  Beaver Lake and Auburn Narrows are great examples.  Fully restored, these sites offer huge environmental and people benefit, but restoration is a critical need.

So where does restoration money come from today?  First, from environmentally focused organizations such as REI (one of the grant providers for Beaver Lake Restoration).  Second from local government agencies such as King County, but as we know, these funds are increasingly scarce.   Lastly, and where I believe significant future potential lies is where builders are seeking LEED certified status or where builders and developers are seeking to mitigate otherwise adverse environmental impacts of their development in urban areas.  To achieve LEED certification requires that significant adverse environmental impacts be mitigated.  In urban areas, development mitigation options can often be cost prohibitive - meaning that an otherwise valuable project for the urban community can't move forward.  However, if "equivalent" mitigation can be achieved by land acquisition and/or environmental restoration efforts in other areas of the county, we can end up with a big win.  The environment wins and many projects otherwise unaffordable, can now become affordable.  We often see a huge urban/suburban/rural divide in King County.  One way to minimize this divide - allow TMCs. 

Why TMC's through organizations such as MGRC?  Very simple - much of the work we are able to do as a qualified 501 c 3 non-profit is through volunteer efforts and contractors willing to discount their normal fees for the benefit of the public.  One clear example:  our MGRC grant for Beaver Lake Restoration efforts totals $20,000.  However, the amount of work done to-date at Beaver Lake in contractor hours and volunteer equivalent dollars easily exceeds $60,000.  TMC's help us achieve this incredible financial leverage - totally local, no Wall Street here.

Give it some thought.

P.S. - I should give some credit for the TMC concept to Andy Williamson with the City of Black Diamond (though no blame attributed) who has served as an excellent "foil" as we debate environmental mitigation issues within our community.

Join SHADOW For Their 15th Annual Frog Frolic

For those not familiar, SHADOW is short for Save Habitat and Diversity of Wetlands.  The organization was formed to promote the preservation and protection of wetlands for future generations.  As one of the few remaining peat bogs in King County, Shadow Lake Bog offers an amazing learning experience.  The total preserved site encompasses over 92 acres and is truly unique and fascinating.  The bog boardwalk is 600 feet long.  See 27 different varieties of moss, an ancient peat bog and carnivorous plants.  Learn that things don't rot in a bog; they mummify!  For more information on SHADOW's education program and partner MGRC, follow this link to Environmental Education At It's Best.

Though it has a Renton address, its actually quite close to Maple Valley.  For directions, follow this link.  Following are a couple of pictures I took earlier this summer.

Hope to see you there.  It's quite a site.