Never-ending Frustration With the Impact of Traditional Building Practices on a Watershed

Turbidity in Little Swamp Creek caused by stormwater runoff from a construction site upstream

     

It was certainly predictable.  A development project with a stream running through it is cleared of at least a couple acres of trees. That area is essentially left as bare dirt just in time for the rainy season.  Think it's going to have a negative impact on the stream?  I think at this point that an elementary school student would correctly predict "Yes!", but how about the adults in charge?   

The West Creek Village project on the west side of 80th here in Kenmore (Click here to view the West Creek Village plat map) has been in the system for several years.  For the last couple of years the property was owned by a bank, until it was sold this summer.  We realized something was actually happening with the property only when big equipment suddenly started working there.  Hundreds of loads of dirt were stockpiled in a HUGE pile on the lot (see my 10/23/2011 post about that here) .  We were told that they were stockpiling the dirt to use when work started in the spring.  But just in time for the salmon spawning/rainy season, they decided to keep working this fall instead.

This is what the stretch of stream in our yard looked like all afternoon yesterday, January 3rd, despite the fact that it hadn't rained all day -

Both the lack of rain and the light color of the turbidity pointed to something wrong upstream.  Here's what the stream looked like immediately north of the construction -

Hmmmm.  Clear.  The contact at the city of Kenmore, who for the record is always very polite and helpful, suggested that the turbidity had something to do with the new stormwater retention tank on site and told me that he would talk to them about moving the outflow.

Unfortunately, this is what the stream looked like this afternoon -

Worse.  It was rather hard to miss.  Yes, it had been raining hard today, but as I just mentioned, turbidity due only to heavy rainfall is darker than this.  Believe me, you get good at reading the stream when you see it every day.

And here is a photo of the stream this afternoon just to the north of the West Creek Village project -

A bit turbid but definitely not to the same degree as the stretch downstream from the project.

A look into the project, as viewed from the street -

You can see what is probably the top of a stormwater retention vault straight ahead.

And a shot of the stream in our yard later in the afternoon -

A little bit better. 

There it is, an unfortunate day in the life of an abused suburban stream.  It would sure make a lot of sense to require methods of Low Impact Development (LID) to be used on projects so close to a stream like this project is.  Until then, we will continue to contact the city, file reports with the state Department of Ecology, and record events here for all to see.  Hopefully someday enough people will become aware of the impact that development is having on their watersheds that there will be a wholesale shift to Low Impact Development.  If you would like to learn more about LID, here is a website with lots of links - epa.gov/owow/NPS/lid/.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, here's a blurry picture of some litter that floated by as I was taking a picture of the stream in our yard later this afternoon -

So sad!!

Upstream Development

One of the most disappointing sounds to hear as a person who cares about the well being of a stream is the sound of earth-moving equipment working in the vicinity of the stream.  Unfortunately for Little Swamp Creek and for the peace and quiet of our neighborhood, a long-dormant proposed development named West Creek Village on 80th north of 192nd evidently was picked up by someone new and is moving full speed ahead.

At first there wasn't even a Notice of Construction Activity sign on the property.  It's disconcerting what requirements just might not happen until someone points out that they are missing.  THAT is as good a reason as any why people need to speak up.  About anything.  After it was pointed out to the city, the sign showed up right away...

First clue that something was up?  Hundreds of these dump trucks with trailers dumping loads of dirt on the site all day long for days.   By the way, the large trees on either side of this driveway are now gone...

I call the mound of dirt that they brought in "The Kenmore Matterhorn".   I was pretty excited to see a chance for a photo with a person on the pile for scale.  See him?  It's unbelievable that all of that dirt is really going to be used here.

When I went down to the city to see what was going on and point out the lack of an information sign, they were kind enough to give me a map of the project and mark on it where silt fencing should be.  The silt fencing is supposed to keep muddy runoff from flowing right into the stream.  I have to say that so far it seems to be doing an excellent job.


But on October 3rd we just happened to notice that the stream looked like this in our yard -

There was an excavator and other equipment working where the stream flows through the project property (see them behind the trucks on the right) -

and the stream immediately upstream from this project was sparkly clean -

Luckily the city contact person has been excellent in getting right back to us when we have had concerns, and that day he whipped right out to the site to check it out.  Evidently the project required a temporary diversion of the stream to build a new stream-crossing, and it was all done with the proper permits.  I'm not sure why this is OK at the time of year when salmon are returning....seems like it should have been done in the summer.  A few days later the city contacted us to warn us that the project was going to take the stream out of the diversion and that there might be silt in the water again.  We appreciated the warning.  

This is a picture taken today.  You'll notice that the massive dirt pile has shrunk.  Some of it must have been used to raise up the grade of the entry road, since that has now less of a dip. The cement walls are evidently where the stream runs under the access road.  Someday I'll walk down there to take pictures of the stream, but surprisingly enough there was someone riding around the property on a golf cart today, so I stuck to the street....