Charlotte Spang
10/14/2020 2:29 PM
My nearest bodies of water are Green Lake, Piper's Creek, and Puget Sound. Since I live in an urban area with a lot of paved surfaces these bodies of water are getting a big pulse of polluted stormwater runoff any time it rains since our storm drains empty into our local bodies of water. Runoff is negatively impacting all the bodies of water I live near. Since I like to swim in Green Lake, I worry about what I might be swimming in. Since I care about salmon and know that carwash runoff can kill juvenile salmon, I worry about water quality and the health of salmon in our local streams. Each fall, coho and chum return to Piper's Creek, but many coho die before they spawn. Scientists consider urban runoff a probable cause for pre-spawn mortality in coho. Shellfish harvesting is not recommended along the eastern shoreline from Everett to Tacoma due to urban runoff. Even though Puget Sound looks beautiful and clean, there are many pollutants that are entering the Sound via runoff impacting water quality.
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Marta Burnet 10/14/2020 4:19 PMI share your concern. I live near the Cedar River (been attending CRSJ for years before I started working here). I walk along the river trail and do clean ups to try to reduce some of the trash that ends up in the river that can negatively impact the salmon (as well as other wildlife).