Something’s wrong with Lofall Creek, which drains into Hood Canal from the Kitsap Peninsula.
How do I know this? Because the Kitsap County Health District noticed that it was becoming polluted a few years ago, thanks to monthly monitoring of about 60 streams — all the major ones throughout unincorporated Kitsap County.
Health authorities jumped on the problem and have identified some failing septic systems. They expect to find more. They’re hoping they get the troubled septic systems fixed soon. But, for now, the water quality is still growing worse.
Check out my story in today’s Kitsap Sun about the annual Water Quality Monitoring Report or download a copy of the report for yourself. The introduction contains a summary of all the streams.
On a positive note, five streams have improved enough to remove them from the ‘health advisory’ list. This is a list of streams that violate pollution standards in the summer months and are posted with signs telling people not to have contact with the water.
The Kitsap County Health District is focused mainly on bacterial pollution, but the program could be expanded to other toxics if money were available.
Many state officials recognize that this is the kind of program needed to attack pollution throughout Puget Sound. Widespread stream monitoring is likely to be one of the suggestions proposed by the Puget Sound Partnership so that everyone will know when and where problems arise.
