Guiding Growth – Healthy Watersheds

Translating science into local policy

Yet there are downsides to the rapid population growth in Thurston County.  Growth in the wrong parts of the county can damage the health of our local watersheds.  Damaged watersheds harm lakes, rivers, streams and ultimately Puget Sound, resulting in waterways that are unhealthy or even unusable for both people and wildlife.

The Guiding Growth - Healthy Watersheds project will help direct new development into priority growth areas while preserving healthy watersheds for future generations.

What is a watershed?

A watershed is the area of land that drains downslope until it reaches a common body of water.  This includes water that flows over the land as streams and rivers as well as water that moves through the land as groundwater.  One way to picture a watershed is as a giant funnel that catches and directs all of the water that falls into it towards the bottom.  Watersheds are often described as "basins".

We all live in watersheds.  As you read this webpage, you are standing or sitting within a watershed that is shared by fellow neighbors and neighborhoods. 

So what’s the problem?

More people means more pavement and buildings.  As Thurston County’s population grows, land gets covered by hard, impermeable surfaces such as roofs, roads, sidewalks, and commercial development.  In these developed areas less rainwater is able to soak into the soil and slowly filter back to waterways.  Instead, the water rushes along hard surfaces and pours into rivers and streams causing erosion, pollution and flooding.

Image adapted from: Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint Source Pollution in Coastal Waters, 1993

Rapid population growth is the largest threat to the health of our watersheds and to Puget Sound.  Local research shows that streams are impacted when as little as 10 percent of a watershed (1 acre in 10) is covered with roofs, streets and sidewalks.  Just a little growth in some healthy watersheds could tip them over the edge to being unhealthy.

Unhealthy watersheds aren’t just bad for the environment; they’re bad for our communities.

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What is this project?

In short, Guiding Growth – Healthy Watersheds: Translating Science to Local Policy aims to accommodate future population growth while conserving our healthy watersheds and ultimately Puget Sound.

Thurston County has teamed with Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) to bring watershed science into local policies that protect water quality in Puget Sound.  This collaborative effort is being funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The project will require working with local cities and involving people who live, work, and recreate there.

This project begins by better understanding the existing characteristics of our watersheds.  Since each watershed is unique, there is no one size fits all approach to management and protection.  Scientific studies are already under way to characterize each watershed draining into Puget Sound to determine if they are healthy or degraded.

The most effective strategies to guide growth will be linked to a watershed’s health. New management options may include changes to existing development regulations, transfer or purchase of development rights, low impact development, wetland mitigation, purchasing sensitive lands, or funding required capital projects.

Basins at risk of degradation will be identified. Computer simulations will assess the effects of various future strategies. They will take into account factors such as projected future population, employment, and transportation. The results will help identify the best management strategies for selected basins.

Finally, local jurisdictions will be able to pick which management strategies would best fit their community. Although this project will recommend a preferred management approach for each watershed, jurisdictions will need to approve these through their own public process.

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Why should I care? 

Thurston County is growing fast. Taking steps now can ensure that we are able to meet the demands of a larger population while still protecting those valuable features that make our county such a special place to live.

Damage to watersheds from growth often results in environmental and health problems. These problems can be unpleasant to live with and costly to fix. For example, rural growth around Henderson Inlet caused water quality problems that led to shellfish harvest closures.  As a result, a new septic maintenance program for homeowners was created to improve water quality. While this program has been a success, it has created an additional expense for rural homeowners and businesses.

Another example from the 1990’s, was the loss of three of the six water supply wells at the City of Tumwater Palermo Well Field due to trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination.  TCE is a common industrial solvent used in transportation facilities and dry cleaners.  The Palermo Well Field provided up to 50% of the City’s drinking water supply.  If left unresolved, it would have affected 13,000 to 25,000 people.  The impacted wells were shut down, designated as federal Superfund sites, and replaced with two new wells.  The clean-up and well replacement was very expensive and was a drain on the Tumwater   taxpayers for many years. 

Preventing damage to our watersheds when they are still healthy is less expensive and than paying to restore watershed health after it has been damaged.  In the Salmon Creek Drainage Basin, repeated groundwater flooding led residents to seek land use changes.  Guiding future growth away from this sensitive area will reduce the risk of future flooding and eliminate the need to build costly flood control structures or flood repairs.

Green Cove Creek Basin is another example of proactive planning and guiding future growth.  In 1999, the City of Olympia found the Green Cove Basin watershed to be sensitive to the impacts of growth.  While still in good condition, it was facing the threat of immediate development pressure.  In order to protect the health of the basin, the City of Olympia and Thurston County changed the zoning, development standards, and tree retention standards there.  These measures have kept Green Cove Creek Basin healthy and averted what could have been serious harm to the environment and the community.

Thurston County is in danger of being “loved to death”.  More people and more development mean more pressure on the watersheds that sustain us and the environment that we call home.  By planning ahead we can make sure that Thurston County’s rich heritage stays strong for many years to come. Planning proactively to maintain our watershed health makes sense for our community.

 Click the map for a larger, downloadable pdf [344 KB].

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Your input is important to us!

This is a multi-year project.  As it moves forward, there will be public meetings.  We need to share our results and hear your ideas.  Watch the website, more information and dates for public meetings will be posted there.  For questions or more information, or contact Steven W. Morrison (morriss@trpc.org), Senior Planner, (360) 956-7575.

Click the map for a larger, downloadable pdf [1 MB].

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This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement (PO -00J12401-0) to Thurston County. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

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