Projects and programs
Science and Technical Support Section

Monitoring and data

The Science Section’s mission is to provide scientific knowledge, information, and analysis in support of regional environmental resource management. To that end, we are responsible for much of the monitoring that King County does of its natural resources. Here are some examples of the monitoring we do:

• Freshwater. We monitor water quality of groundwater, streams,  small lakes, and large lakes, and a set of large lake bouys also collect water quality data. We monitor the water quality and temperature of swimming beaches. The Hydrologic Information Center provides flow and temperature data for our streams and rivers.
• Stream health. Our benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring program takes our scientists to stream sites all over King County each summer to sample them for stream bugs, which are indicators of stream health. Several studies use this Benthic Index of Biologic Integrity (BIBI) method to determine a stream's health.  PugetSoundStreamBenthos.org houses the data we collect.
• Marine. King County conducts marine monitoring to identify sources of water pollution, provide water quality information for management decisions, and evaluate status and trends of marine waters within King County.

Projects and programs

The Science Section manages and participates in several programs and projects, including specific studies. Several are the result of regional collaboration, and some are supported by grants. Some of these program and projects are described below:

Long-term programs

• Agriculture Drainage Assistance Program - we monitor fish usage of agricultural ditches
• Lake Stewardship Program - a volunteer program for monitoring lake water quality
• Salmon Watcher Program  - a volunteer salmon-monitoring program

On-going studies

• Critical Areas Ordinances (CAO) monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of regulations passed by King County Council in 2003.
• Green/ Duwamish River Water Quality Assessment
• Green River Stormwater Retrofit Planning Project
• Quartermaster Harbor Nitrogen Management Study
• Urban Planned Development Monitoring. Products include the 2008-2010 Final Monitoring Report, the 2007 Annual Monitoring Report and the 2006 Midpoint Review.
• Vashon-Maury Island Water Resource Evaluation

Stand-alone projects and completed programs

• Normative flow studies
• Baseline Monitoring Study of Restoration Effectiveness in the Green River 
• Newaukum Creek basin characterization
• King County biodiversity report
• Mussel studies – reports on various freshwater mussels studies
• King County Ecological Lands Handbook