The Water Center

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/15889

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Environmental Limitations to Vegetation Establishment and Growth in Vegetated Stormwater Biofilters
(University of Washington Center for Urban Water Resources Management, 1998) Mazer, Greg
Over 100 bioswales have been constructed in King County over the past ten years to treat runoff associated with residential, commercial and light industrial development. Water level fluctuation, long-term inundation, erosive flow, excessive shade, poor soils, and improper installation are the most common causes of low vegetation survival in these swales. The relative importance of these limiting factors may vary widely from swale to swale. This study was designed to identify those factors that most influence vegetation establishment and growth, so that recommendations can be made to improve future biofiltration swale design and performance. The presumed relation between vegetation abundance and bioswale performance was also investigated. Environmental conditions were examined for eight biofiltration swales in King County, Washington, to determine the relative importance of the various factors influencing vegetation establishment and growth. Three of these swales were regraded, retrofitted with new soil, and hydroseeded in September 1996. A nested two-factorial greenhouse experiment tested the response of four turfgrass species, commonly seeded in bioswales, to four moisture regimes (three inundation schedules plus a control).
Forest Cover, Impervious-Surface Area, and the Mitigation of Urbanization Impacts in King County, Washington
(University of Washington Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2000-09) Booth, Derek B.
For decades, watershed urbanization has been known to have severe consequences on aquatic systems. Although the problem has been long articulated, solutions have proven elusive because of the complexity of the problem, the evolution of improving but still- imperfect analytical tools, and socio-economic forces with different and often incompatible interests. King County, Washington, has been a recognized leader in the effort to analyze and to reduce the consequences of urban development, but even in this jurisdiction the path has been marked by well-intentioned but ultimately mistaken approaches, compromises with other agency goals that thwart complete success, and imperfect implementation of the measures that ultimately have been adopted. The designation of ESA-listed species within the urban and urbanizing parts of the Puget Sound region has brought new scrutiny to all aspects of these watershed-mitigation efforts. Such increased attention is forcing a better articulation of the goals, the means, and the justification for mitigating the effects of urban development. This paper is one manifestation of that attention. The purpose here is to remind readers of the scientific framework for evaluating the consequences of urban development on aquatic systems; to review the history of surface-water management in King County as it relates to the analysis and mitigation of those consequences; and to evaluate the basis for a specific proposal, first explored almost a decade ago, to limit effective impervious areas in high-quality watersheds at or below 10 percent and to maintain forest cover above 65 percent.
Urban Stream Rehabilitation in the Pacific Northwest
(University of Washington Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2001-03-30) Booth, Derek B.; Karr, James R.; Schauman, Sally; Konrad, Christopher P.; Morley, Sarah A.; Larson, Marit G.; Henshaw, Patricia C.; Nelson, Erin J.; Burges, Stephen J.
Our goal in this project has been to develop a robust approach to urban stream rehabilitation, using examples from the Puget Lowland region of western Washington, that blends knowledge from the physical, biological, and social sciences by: 1) documenting the consequences of urban development on urban streams; 2) understanding the causes of the resulting ecological degradation; and 3) using that understanding to evaluate rehabilitation strategies and techniques.
A Survey of Ditches Along County Roads for Their Potential to Affect Storm Runoff Water Quality
(University of Washington Center for Urban Water Resources Management, 2000-07) Colwell, Shanti; Horner, Richard R.; Booth, Derek B.; Gilvydis, Dalius
Twenty years of research have demonstrated that the water quality of stormwater runoff can improve after flowing in a well-vegetated channel, relatively slowly, at a depth below the vegetation height. These channels are commonly called “biofiltration swales.” Roadside ditches that are vegetated also may have the potential to provide the same water quality benefits as biofiltration swales by removing pollutants. Conversely, ditches that are devoid of vegetation are subject to erosion and could be significant sources of sediments and other pollutants. If the potential benefits are to be realized, and the pollutant source avoided, ditch condition and maintenance must be consistent with not only conveyance but also water-quality objectives. Because no systematic data have been collected that describe ditch characteristics with respect to water-quality considerations, Snohomish and King counties commissioned the Center for Urban Water Resources Management to evaluate ditch status in the two jurisdictions and to consider how road maintenance crews might maximize their potential for water-quality performance. The goal of this investigation was to develop strategies for improving runoff treatment and reducing downstream sediment loading from existing ditches, while retaining their hydraulic function of conveying roadway runoff. The principal focus was to guide maintenance actions, but it was anticipated that design of future ditches should also benefit. This report documents one aspect of the investigation— a systematic survey of ditches during the summer and fall of 1998, designed to evaluate the water-quality performance of ditches in the two counties’ road networks. The survey encompassed 113 ditch segments in Snohomish County and 87 segments in King County, ranging in length from 200 to 600 feet. Single-family residential is by far the dominant land use in the catchments adjacent to the ditches surveyed, a circumstance representative of areas in the two counties with roadside ditches. Specific measurements and observations were made at several transects in each ditch, extending across the width and spaced along the length of each segment. In total, 1000 transects were surveyed for this project, emphasizing the data collection and analysis of those factors that were anticipated to be both beneficial and detrimental to improving water quality.
Vegetated Stormwater Facility Maintenance
(University of Washington Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2000-12) Cammermayer, Jon W.; Horner, Richard R.; Chechowitz, Naomi
This study had three objectives and associated work components: Component 1 -- assess routine highway ditch cleaning alternatives ("Service Levels") for water quality benefits; Component 2—survey biofiltration swales to evaluate conditions promoting water quality benefits; and Component 3—assess restabilization and revegetation options for use after ditch cleaning and for restoring biofiltration swale vegetation.
Technology Review: Ultra-Urban Stormwater Treatment Technologies
(University of Washington Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2000-09-01) Brueske, Christopher C.
This paper provides a review of "ultra-urban" stormwater treatment technologies. "Ultra-urban" technologies are designed to remove pollutants from wet weather runoff in highly developed areas where land values are high and available space is limited. These technologies differ from traditional stormwater treatment methods (e.g., water quality ponds and grass swales) in that they are extremely compact and can be retrofitted into existing stormwater collection systems. The technologies included in this review were developed primarily to remove suspended solids from urban runoff. Several of the units also include design features to remove oils and other floatable contaminants. Generally speaking, these technologies remove metals, nutrients, and other contaminants only to the extent that these contaminants are adsorbed to suspended solids. A notable exception to this is certain filtration systems, which can be operated with an adsorptive media specific to dissolved metals, organics, and nutrients.
A Rapid Land Cover Classification Method for Use in Urban Watershed Analysis
(University of Washington Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2003-03) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Hill, Kristina; Botsford, Erik; Booth, Derek B.
Because of the profound effect of urban development on aquatic systems, characterizing the land cover of a region is critical for a variety of resource management applications. In the Pacific Northwest, this characterization has been used most commonly to correlate the intensity of human activity with observed stream or wetland conditions, in order to predict the health of the stream system or to guide the allocation of mitigation efforts. Unfortunately, there is little consistency or quality control in how land-cover data are collected and analyzed. We have developed an alternative approach using Landsat satellite imagery to produce the same general type of land-cover characterization as has currently found widespread acceptance and use across the region. However, our methodology does so in a way that achieves maximum utility and consistency for a particular group of users -- individuals and agencies needing to assess watershed conditions in the urban, and urbanizing, parts of western Washington. The classes of land cover produced have been chosen to reflect the categories that can be readily distinguished in the satellite data and to have important differences in their associated runoff and watershed characteristics. The advantages of such an approach are obvious. The algorithm is developed only once; after completion, it can be applied rapidly to any other selected area through GIS software. It does not depend on the discretion of individual operators and so the results are reproducible. These advantages have not been lost on public agencies, but those agencies are not equipped to pursue such efforts systematically, given project-related geographic boundaries, time constraints, staff turnover, and the difficulty of inter-agency communication. With suitable testing and documentation, the release of these data layers through the University of Washington may encourage agencies across the region to adopt a uniform methodology, resulting in a degree of uniformity in data collection, analysis, and reporting of these data that is currently unavailable.
Watershed Review: v.1:no.4(2003:fall)
(University of Washington Water Center, 2003) Center for Water & Watershed Studies
Articles include: King of Fish: the Thousand-Year Run of Salmon; Thesis and dissertation abstracts for: Characterizing Lowland Streams, Large Woody Debris in Natural Systems, Impacts of Road Crossings on Creeks, Channel-Initiation in Headwater Streams, and Hypotheic Zones in Puget Lowland Streams; and Snapshot of Current Research: Reproductive Success of Steelhead, Technical Assessment for WRIA 20, Hydrologic Partitioning of Mountain Basins, and Bioavailability of Particulate Phosphorus.
Washington Water Resource: v.7:no.4(1996:fall)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1996) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Characterizing the Magnitude of Urban Development; Preventing the Problems of Urban Runoff; Evaluation of Infiltrative Pavement Systems for Parking Areas.
Washington Water Resource: v.8:no.1(1997:winter)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1997) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Assessment of Cumulative Effects of Urbanization on Small Streams in the Puget Sound Lowland Ecoregion; Hydrologic Simulation of the Klahanie Catchment, King County, Washington, With and Without a Landscape Consisting of Soil Amended with Compost.
Washington Water Resource: v.8:no.2(1997:spring)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1997) Center for Urban Water Resources
Articles include: Maintenance of Failed Biofiltration Swales; Evaluation of Environmental Indicators for Stormwater Management.
Washington Water Resource: v.8:no.3(1997:summer)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1997) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Evaluation of Wet Ponds for Phosphorus Reduction; Vegetation Maintenance of Bioswales, Wetponds, and Roadside Ditches; Evaluation of the Effects of Forest Roads on Streamflow.
Washington Water Resource: v.8:no.4(1997:fall)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1997) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Evaluation of Urban Stream Channels; Urban Stream Rehabilitation in the Pacific Northwest; Porous Asphalt Road Shoulders; Water Quality Management and Erosion Control on a Construction Site; Stormwater Sampling Methods for Low Flow Streams.
Washington Water Resource: v.9:no.1(1998:winter)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1998) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: New Report Explains the Biological Monitoring of Stream Health; Landslides in Puget Sound; Optimizing the Maintenance of Formal and Informal Water-Quality Facilities at the Urban Fringe; Conducting Watershed Management Training.
Washington Water Resource: v.9:no.2(1998:spring)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1998) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Needs of Salmon in the City: Habitat in the Urban Landscape; Are Wild Salmon Runs Sustainable in Rehabilitated Urban Streams?; The Effects of Subsampling on the Performance of Macroinvertebrate Biomonitoring.
Washington Water Resource: v.9:no.3(1998:summer)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1998) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Groundwater Pathways in the Industrial Duwamish Corridor, Seattle; Environmental Limitations to Vegetation Establishment and Growth in Vegetated Stormwater Biofilters; The Geologic Framework for the City of Seattle and the Seattle-Tacoma Urban Corridor; Urban Stream Rehabilitation -- A Progress Report on the Center's 3-Year Project; The Regional, Synchronous Stream Temperature Survey of 1998: 600 Sites in 120 Minutes.
Washington Water Resource: v.9:no.4(1998:fall)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1998) Center for Urban Water Resources
Articles include: Regional, Synchronous Field Determination of Summertime Stream Temperatures; The Stream Rehabilitation Project Information System; Environmental Limitations to Vegetation Establishment and Growth in Vegetated Stormwater.
Washington Water Resource: v.10:no.1(1999:winter)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1999) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Stream Habitat Assessment Protocols: An Evaluation of Urbanizing Watersheds in the Puget Sound Lowlands.
Washington Water Resource: v.10:no.2(1999:spring)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1999) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: A Rapid Land Cover Classification Method for Use in Urban Watershed Analysis; Rates of Channel Erosion in Small Urban Streams; Modest Progress on the Long Road to an Effective Water-Resources Management System in Washington; Working at a Watershed Level.
Washington Water Resource: v.10:no.3(1999:summer)
(University of Washington Water Center, 1999) Center for Urban Water Resources Management
Articles include: Sediment Budget of a Mixed-Use Urbanizing Watershed; Effects of Hydraulic Loadings and Temperature on the Pollutant Removal Efficiency; Restabilization of Stream Channels in Urban Watersheds; Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of the Endangered Species Act; The Scorption Capacity of Aluminum in Alum-Treated Lake Sediments; Oak Lake Creek: A Case Study of Fish Passage through Culverts.

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