Springbrook Creek Watershed Water Quality Monitoring Report: A Lost Urban Creeks Project

Lost urban creeks are streams in urban areas that are neglected, taken advantage of, and are typically in communities most affected by pollution and environmental injustice. The Lost Urban Creeks Project improves these urban waterways through cleanups, restoration, and water quality monitoring. Our first site is Springbrook Creek Watershed in South King County, which runs through the cities of Kent and Renton.

Through the Lost Urban Creeks Project, youth interns were trained in July of 2019 by the Sno-King Watershed Council to conduct water quality monitoring of Springbrook Creek using methods established by the Global Water Watch, a voluntary network of community-based water monitoring groups. On a monthly basis, from September 2019 to April 2020, we monitored water quality at eight locations throughout the Springbrook Watershed, including sites along Springbrook, Mill, and Panther Creeks.

We tested for Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Conductivity, Turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids, Nitrates, and Salinity. We also collected and weighed garbage at each site. What we found during the Wet Season is that most of the water quality parameters we tested for, such as temperature and pH, were well within the range that would allow Salmon to survive.

But our results for two parameters, dissolved oxygen and turbidity, concerned us.

Learn about our findings and what we recommend to restore the health of this river ecosystem in this video.

Learn more at www.pugetsoundkeeper.org.
Contact us at [email protected].
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