Report Outlines Comprehensive Road Map for
Restoring Seattle’s Waters
Scientific ‘State of the Waters’ Report Urges Citizens to Join the Effort

For immediate release: 12/27/07
For more information, Contact:
Susan Harper, (206) 386-9139
susan.harper@seattle.gov

SEATTLE — Seattle Public Utilities has issued a comprehensive report on the ecological condition of Seattle’s major creeks and small lakes, and an accompanying set of recommendations for rehabilitating and restoring Seattle’s upland watersheds.

The State of the Waters 2007 report establishes Seattle as a national leader in working to understand — and set the stage for restoring — its urban ecology. An important component of Mayor Greg Nickels’ Restore Our Waters program, the report details every facet of the current state of creek and watershed conditions for Seattle’s five major watersheds. The level of detail and the presentation of conditions at both scales provide an understanding of watershed health unsurpassed in a major U.S. city.

The 355-page (including detailed watershed maps) report highlights the need to take targeted actions that match the unique conditions in each stream and watershed to achieve Seattle’s goals of healthy urban watersheds for people and salmon — part of the larger goal of cleaning up and protecting Puget Sound.

Accompanying the State of the Waters 2007 report is a roadmap for thinking about and making decisions to improve ecological health in Seattle’s aquatic areas: the Science Framework for Ecological Health in Seattle’s Streams. The Science Framework provides a scientific foundation for moving towards more healthy streams, while balancing human uses of our watersheds. It also identifies key next steps including identifying goals for each of Seattle’s creeks and developing effectiveness and trend monitoring to track progress toward watershed health.

The State of the Waters 2007 report and the Scientific Framework for Ecological Health are available on the SPU website.

For more information about the report, please contact Susan Harper, at: (206) 386-9139 or susan.harper@seattle.gov.

In addition to providing a reliable water supply to more than 1.3 million customers in the Seattle metropolitan area, SPU provides essential sewer, drainage, solid waste and engineering services that safeguard public health, maintain the city’s infrastructure and protect, conserve and enhance the region's environmental resources.

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Seattle Public Utilities