Program would curb pet waste and help some Sammamish creeks
May 6, 2010
By J.B. Wogan
New: May 6, 12:35 p.m.
Sammamish has four major tributaries that aren’t meeting water quality standards according to the federal Clean Water Act.
Now the city is attempting to curb the high concentrations of bacteria in those creeks — Laughing Jacobs, Inglewood, Pine Lake and Ebright — by getting residents to clean up dog poop.
The bacteria, fecal coliform, is often a sign that the water isn’t healthy for humans to drink, according to the city’s stormwater engineer Eric LaFrance.
Laughing Jacobs Creek also has too low a level of dissolved oxygen, which is harmful to fish, according to Susan Braley, a supervisor in the Department of Ecology’s water quality program.*
LaFrance got permission from the Sammamish City Council May 4 to implement a three-part pet waste and stormwater education program, which would target the city’s youngsters.
The program would cost $23,217, funded by the King Conservation District.
LaFrance said the consultant, Seattle-based Triangle Associates, understands that the contract is contingent on the city getting grants from the conservation district.
A grant committee at the district is recommending that the district’s board approve the first of two grants that would fund the contract, LaFrance said.
“It is very, very likely that a grant of this type would go through,” said David Irons, a Sammamish resident on the district’s board.
The contract calls for a city booth for the Watershed Festival at Beaver Lake Park June 3-4. The booth could be used at the city’s Sustainability Festival in September, too.
The booth would target the fourth grade students attending the festival. It would teach them what a watershed is, how individual behavior can impact water quality and how fish and other fresh water-related wildlife can indicate the health of a lake or creek.
The contract also includes 10 school visits, with up to five workshops per visit, where the consultant would teach students in grades 3-5 about pollution coming from stormwater.
Lastly, the contract would set up an action plan for students in grades 4-5 to cut back on pet waste and ways to measure their success.
While the council did approve the contract, Councilmen Tom Odell and John Curley voted against it.
“It’s a waste of money,” Curley said.
Curley pointed out that Sammamish receives praise for its high quality schools and he didn’t understand why the teachers couldn’t teach this without a city program.
In a later e-mail, Curley added that he didn’t have a problem with addressing pet waste in the city, but he wanted a program that could be measured for its effectiveness.
“We spend 23 grand and talk to 500 kids. One year from now there is less dog poop? Prove it. Show me the money was well spent,” he wrote.
Odell said he was supportive of the city’s intention to educate the public on stormwater management and pet waste, but he didn’t think the outlined program was the best means to that end.
“Is there a way to accomplish this for considerably less?” Odell said. “I have some concerns about just how effective this will be.”
Odell suggested that the city could see if the University of Washington had any graduate science students who would be willing to take on the project during the summer. He said that whoever ran the program would need to meet with teachers from all the schools to guarantee that stormwater education would be ongoing — not just this year — and would be part of every elementary school curriculum.
LaFrance said that teachers told him their curriculum is so tied into standardized tests that they don’t teach about stormwater.
He added that the state Department of Ecology requires a stormwater public education program, and this contract would be one way of meeting that requirement.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
*This story corrects what is alarming about Laughing Jacobs Creek’s dissolved oxygen level. It is too low.
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It is not children causing the dog waste problem.
In the case of Beaver Lake (and Laughing Jacobs Creek) it is adults that allow their off leash dogs to leave their waste on the trails and sensitive understory of the park.
Start fining people that break the law. That will help immensely.
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