Black Diamond NOW

Lake Sawyer Water Quality Trends - 2011 Monitoring Results

Each year, the King County Lake Stewardship Program (KCLSP) publishes a report summarizing water quality testing results for Lake Sawyer.  The City of Black Diamond contracts with KCLSP to do this testing and reporting.  This is in addition to the water quality testing conducted by the City itself where the focus is principally on the watershed upstream of the lake.  For a complete copy of this report follow this link to Download Sawyer_WY2011rev.

By and large, results show a lot of stability with little significant change in water quality over the last several years - either for phosphorus or water clarity (secchi index).  Following are several summary charts.

LSIN1 references to a sample point at the inlet, LSIN9 is a sample point roughly in the middle of the lake and LSIN10 is at the outlet.

For those interested in more information, the report noted above is a fairly easy read.

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 Stormwater When All You Have Is A Drainage System

Believe it or not, the idea of managing stormwater to prevent pollution and protect our fisheries is a fairly new concept in our state and elsewhere in the country.  Prior to the early 1990's, little attention was really paid to stormwater as an important environmental imperative.  To the extent that stormwater retention/detention ponds were included as part of a new development, they were pretty small and particularly during storm events, the water just flowed.  If you drive through Lawson Hills Estates or the Morgan Creek development, both of which were built during the 80's/early 90's period, you will find some stormwater pond capacity, but pretty small.  Most of our city developed well before this period and we pretty much just have what I'll call a "drainage system" - all runoff flows directly into our streams and lakes, untreated and unattenuated.  As a result, runoff from our streets and other impervious surfaces which are typically high in phosphorus and toxic metals such as copper from brake pads, end up polluting our streams and lakes and despoiling our fisheries.

While current regulations require a much higher standard for new development, including a net no new phosphorus loading to Lake Sawyer as a result of Yarrow Bay's planned Master Planned Development, it is important that we also focus on making improvements to the "drainage system" that we now have in the City.  And to their credit, this is exactly what our Public Works Department and City staff have been focusing on.

Today, if you drive through the City when it's raining, you will find water just flowing into our streams from our roads, driveways and parking lots.  Water is lazy - it always goes downhill and this is where our streams are.  As a result, City staff has submitted an application for a $700,000+ grant that would allow us to improve stormwater management along SR169 (runoff today drains directly to Ginder Creek untreated and unattenuated).  The following graphic shows what is currently being planned.

Let's hope that we can make this happen.  Improvement to water quality as a result would be very beneficial.  Kudo's to staff!

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.

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.

Green River - Still Well Below Flood Stage

The following graphic from earlier today shows current flow volumes in the Green River.  Though flows have increased dramatically with rain and snow runoff, they are at pretty normal levels right now.

The Army Corps of Engineers has certainly accelerated dam release volumes but no flooding is currently expected as flows remain well below flood stage, which is 61.7 feet at this Auburn station.

More Adventures Hiking Into The Gorge Along The Green

It's after 10 pm and well past my bedtime following our open community forum but couldn't resist posting a couple of photos from my hike last weekend into the gorge.  The big hole you see is an old mine entrance about where the Kummer mine was located decades ago.  This area is incredibly beautiful!

Notice the Kyaker near the hole.

This site seemed so weird.  The river at this point divides into two distinct paths.  The upper area just flowed gently, divided by a rocky shoal that separarated it from the lower and much deeper and bigger flow area near the opposite shore.  What made it so unusual was that the farther channel was at least a couple of feet lower in elevation than the upper area.  To catch the current, the kyakers obviously stayed in the deep and big flow channel.

More on this hike and area in future posts.

First Teacher

 

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

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?

 

Green River Flooding - Not A Current Risk, At Least For Now

Following are copies of today's Green River flows and water levels as posted by the USGS.  Even with all of the recent rain, it does not appear that we face any current flood risks.  The dam is being operated at up to full capacity and current discharge levels are well below flood risk - even lower than is typical for this time of year.  One curious observation, however, is the degree to which dam release volumes have been varied significantly in the recent week by the Corps of Engineers.  Interesting.

 

Salmon & Steelhead Releases

Although I promised to not release any more charts and graphs, I found the following data to be of great interest - so I violated my pledge at least for now.

Fewer and fewer releases and catches.  Hmmmmm.  Lots of Pinks returning this year as illustrated in an earlier post re Pink Salmon Are Running In the Green.  Apparently this is a binanneal event.

Our hatcheries remain very busy - but to what end if we are just holding our own and the dollar drain right now is so significant????  How do we get our fisheries on an even/sustainable budgetary framework?  I'm afraid that our fisheries are about to collapse just like our State Parks are now on life support!  Time for us all to get involved.  More re our State Parks in a future post.

CSO's - An Environmental Connundrum or Not?

For those of you looking for a sexy topic, CSO's are not it.  But if you wish to engage in a discussion of environmental regulation and where it does and does not pay dividends, then this is your forum.  Hang on to your seats and let me first describe what a CSO is.  CSO stands for Combined Sewer Overflow and was the popular stormwater and sewer engineering practice in the northwest in the early days - pre 60's.  Following is a graphic that explains the concept and the problem.

In essence, our sewer and stormwater drainage systems were interlinked.  But when we have heavy rainfall exceeding the sewer treatment plant's capacity, which has been a frequent occurance, the combination of raw sewage and stormwater overflowed into our streams and into Puget Sound.  From a public works engineering perspective, this was most efficient.  But from a pollution standpoint, it was horrible.  Pretty ugly.  The result was contaminated beaches (swimming in sewage) and pollution in the sound that killed fish - but it was "engineering efficient".  OK, no more engineer bashing.  To correct these obvious problems, major efforts were initiated in the mid to late 1960's to begin separating stormwater and sewer systems and the results have been very impressive.  Following is a chart that shows the rate of progress in reducing combined sewer overflows and sewer pollution into Puget Sound over the last 50 years. 

As we can see, though there remain some CSO related flows into Puget Sound, current volumes are but a bare trickle of what they once were.  Yet, efforts to get that last trickle out of the system continue.  But at what cost?  Should we spend our scarce rescources here to fully finish the retrofit job or should we redirect these resources (our money) to other efforts that will give us an even bigger bang for the buck?  And this is the simple question that I am now posing.  Guess what the price tag is to wring that last bit of CSO out of the system.  For King County alone, it's $711 million dollars and there is less a problem here than for the City of Seattle.

So, the real question is - should we (King County) spend $711 million, and the City of Seattle even more, to tighten up our current CSO systems to "finish the job" and pay for this through our sewer rates or are there other uses for this money that can yield us even higher returns for preserving Puget Sound and our fisheries?  Unfortunately, this is not the question now being asked by King County - and I sit on the Regional Water Quality Committee.  There seems to be a view that to legally comply, we must remove the last vestiges of CSO's.  But, it's highly unlikely that this money and these expenditures will in the end make a material difference in improving water quality and fisheries within Puget Sound and our region.  There are likely to be expenditures to solve other problems with a much higher return on investment than these CSO's if our end goal is to provide maximum protection/improvement for Puget Sound and our fisheries.

And by means of full disclosure, I am also a member of the South Central Action Area Caucus Group of the Puget Sound Partnership focused on preserving Puget Sound.  In this capacity and in that as a member of the Regional Water Quality Committtee, I have in the past, and will continue to ask this same question - solving what specific water quality problems will give us the biggest return on our investment?  If that means less investment in CSO replacement and more investment in retrofitting other stormwater systems, then the money should be allocated accordingly.  Simple question, but not a simple answer with the multiplicity of government jurisdictions involved with overlapping responsibilities.  It seems to me that this is why the Puget Sound Partnership was created to begin with.  Where is the leadership?

 

Lake Sawyer Water Quality - October 2011 Update

The City of Black Diamond has been conducting water quality sampling for over 18 months now.  Samples are being taken at 7 upstream locations that drain into Lake Sawyer in addition to the two direct Lake Sawyer inlets - Frog Lake (FL) and Ravensdale Creek (RC2).  We have been regularly sampling for Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Turbidity, Conductivity and Temperature.  In addition, Aaron Nix, City Natural Resources Director, has begun measuring flow volumes into the lake.  As we seek to understand total phosphorus loading, we need to measure both the concentrations of phosphorus (that we sample quarterly and send to King County for lab analysis) as well as total flows.  So now we are doing both and this is a big step forward as we track trends over time for total annual loading to the lake. 

For those of you who like charts and graphs, here you go:

CFS stands for cubic feet per second.  As you can see, in large part due to beaver dams, Frog Lake has little or no flow into Lake Sawyer during the summer.  Ravensdale Creek had flows all year last year but this year also ceased to flow in August - and again, beaver dams appear to play a significant role here too.

The Dept. of Ecology has established a minimum goal of 9.5 mg/L Dissolved Oxygen as necessary to support salmon habitat.  By this measure, Ravensdale Creek is very healthy.

Low temperatures are also important to maintaining healthy salmon habitat.  By this measure, both Frog Lake and Ravensdale Creek are pretty healthy year round with tempertures generally lower than DOE maximum targets.

Turbidity measures the relative "cloudiness" of the water.  Higher levels of turbidity typically correlate to higher levels of phosphorus in the water.  Once again, even during lower flow summer periods, Ravensdale Creek remains very healthy. 

As a whole, as it stands today, this all reasonably good news.  And I cannot over-emphasize how important it is for us to have baseline data prior to any new development.  Should things with new development somehow go sideways with unanticipated adverse impacts to the lake, at least we now have some baseline data to support the case for further mitigation requirements for new development.  Though I very much appreciate Yarrow Bay's commitment to "no net increase in phosphorus loading to Lake Sawyer", it's also important to have baseline data upon which the "no net new increase" critieria can be measured.  And let's get the lawyers out of this -that is how promises, like those of Yarrow Bay, become nothing more than propaganda and public relations releases.  I guess that time will tell.  Let's hope and pray and continue montoring intensly - and keep the lawyers out of it.

If you have further questions, please feel free to ask.  I'm sure that Aaron would be more than happy to help us out.

WRIA9 - What?

WRIA9 stands for Water Resource Inventory Area 9 - which is our Green/Duwamish River watershed.  For perspective, WRIA8 is the Cedar River watershed to our north and WRIA10 is the Puyallup/White River watershed to our south. Following is a picture of the WRIA9 watershed.

As you can see, WRIA9 extends from the Upper Green River Subwatershed, which is located above the Howard Hanson Dam, through the Middle Green River Watershed from Howard Hanson Dam to below Flaming Geyser State Park and then on into the Lower Green and the Duwamish.  Cleaning up the Duwamish as it enters Puget Sound and all of the EPA Superfund sites along the way remains an important priority.  But, to insure that our fisheries can be maintained/expanded to their original state, requires that the Lower and Middle Green river watersheds are both protected from further degradation and restored to healthy habitat levels.  Common approaches to restoring water quality include the following:

• Restoring riparian habitat
• Controlling stormwater flows
• Treating stormwater
• Removing cross connections
• Fixing failing on-site septic systems
• Business BMP's (Best Management Practices)
• Improved stormwater O&M

I recently had an opportunity to see the return of Pink Salmon into the Green and they were very plentiful.  But from what I am told, current returns of pink, silvers, chinook and steelhead are but a fraction of what they used to be. 

Our Regional Water Quality Committee was recently briefed by staff on the status of restoration efforts within WRIA9.  Stormwater retrofits are an important priority for the future.  Why?

• Most developed areas have no or inadequate controls
• Large storm flows erode streams
• Untreated stormwaters harm fish

Retrofits do improve flow and water quality.

Prior to 1990 there were virtually no stormwater management regulations.  The focus was strictly on "drainage".  If you drive along Lawson during a rain storm event, you will clearly see what I mean.  Water just sheets down the streets, into ditches and then directly into Ginder Creek and Rock Creek located just below.  No storage, no attenuation of flows, no treatment, just drainage.  We know what phosphorus from stormwater can do to Lake Sawyer.  So what is the answer?

Stormwater retrofit planning for WRIA9 is now an important priority.  A $1 million grant has been received from EPA to assess needs and cost effectiveness.  Primary streams being addressed include:

• Newaukum Creek (south of the gorge through the Enumclaw area)
• Soos Creek and Covington Creek (the outfall of Lake Sawyer)
• Crisp Creek
• Mill Creek in Auburn and Kent
• Springbook Creek
• Des Moines Creek and others

The goal is to understand the tradeoffs - cost versus improvement - for making stormwater retrofit changes.  The goal is to also define regional retrofit funding needs, prioritize these needs, provide input to capital project planning and influence future permit requirements. This project is expected to be completed in the 2012 to 2013 time frame.  We look forward to the results.  Stay tuned.

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.

Well Logs - A Wealth Of Water Quality/Quantity Data Available In Our Area

The above screen print shows the wealth of well log data available as maintained by the Washington State Department Of Ecology.  As you can see, there are wells everywhere in our area.  Some are production wells, like those of the Covington Water District and others are just for gathering monitoring data.  Unfortunately, getting access to this data isn't quite as user friendly as one would hope, but the data sources are there.  Worth considering as we work to navigate our future.

p.s. - Why the screen print is crooked is beyond me, but that is what you see when you log into the link shown above.

Pink Salmon Are Running In The Green River - Amazing Catches

The above picture shows two pink salmon caught earlier this Thursday along the Green River at Auburn Narrows.  What beautiful fish.  According to this fisherman, overall he caught 15 fish before deciding to keep these two which he intends to smoke.  What a great ethic - two is all he needed to smoke.  Apparently, pinks are not the most valued of salmon, mostly used for smoking or BBQ immediately after catching - interesting specie.  But, there is no doubt that the river is full of these fish right now.  In fact, silvers are beginning to come in now too. I saw a couple caught.  I had never realized how prolific some of our fisheries really are.  A couple of pictures follow:

Notice how much of a hump back these fish develop as they mature and spawn upstream.

So many fish caught, I couldn't keep track.

Lot's of people fishing and catching.

Salmon eggs anyone?

That's a silver being gutted on the upper right.

Region Water Quality Trends - Discouraging

Last week, our Regional Water Quality Committee received a briefing from King County staff regarding water quality trend results in the Puget Sound Region for the year 2010.  Following is a summary of the results presented

The large lakes noted below are Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish.  Lake Sawyer, which would be number three on the list but not included in this data, is also posting good results for phosphorus.

Unfortunately, when it comes to streams in the region, the news re temperature and dissolved oxygen levels is not nearly so good.

The good news - less fecal bacterial contamination of our beaches.  The bad news, marine water quality remains below standard or is declining from prior years.

 
Bad news for our fisheries.  Little or no improvement.  FYI, WRIA 9 refers to the Green-Duwamish watershed.

Once again, pretty bad news.

I am also a member of the South Central Action Area Committee (SCAACG) of the Puget Sount Partnership - the entity charged with saving Puget Sound.  My emphasis, while being on this committee and representing our community, has been to focus on the steps required to actually improve water quality.  In a briefing prepared by King County staff in June, I found it eye opening that "roughly more than three quarters of the developed land in King Count was built out prior to 1990 using no stormwater control methods or the ineffective intitial methods developed in the 1970's.  ----- this was a time with no or relatively little flow control and virtually no water quality control."

In my business experience, I have been faced with many of these same issues, most notably in the Cape Cod area (excessive nitrogen and phosphorus) and in the Chesapeake Bay region where excess nitrogen is the compelling call to arms.  In all cases, including our challenges here in Puget Sound, the biggest issue we face is "sins of the past".  I see a lot of great proposals for making new developments better, and this is all good including Yarrow Bay's committment for zero net new discharge of phosphorus into Lake Sawyer, but until we have the will to tackle the bigger issues which are legacy problems from our past, we are likely to continue to be disappointed by annual water quality results like those summarized above.

My current advice to SCAACG, spend less on studies and more on actually making some changes in our historical stormwater management systems.

 

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.