Clarks Creek Silt Causing Toxic Chemical Backup

When Puyallup citizen Patty Carter noticed that the storm water retention pond near her property was brown, she assumed it was duck feces. She would soon learn that the cause was actually toxic chemicals seeping into the pond as the result of silt buildup in Clarks Creek, and that the pond was below the high groundwater level.

“Clarks Creek is our main way to get storm water out of town to the river, so if it’s really filled with silt, all the water table around here has gone up,” Carter said. “It’s not just right next to the creek; it’s the whole valley.”

Over four feet of sediment has piled up on the bottom of the creek, which has not been dredged since the 1950’s. The water’s flow is not fast enough to move the silt along, so the problem compounds itself. The silt has contributed to various water quality problems in Puyallup, including the elodea blooms.

“Silt is breeding ground for elodea, so if you remove the silt, you’re not going to have the elodea,” Puyallup Historical Hatchery Foundation President David Couch said.

Many Puyallup residents are unaware of the problem because the city’s water quality report only details information about water going into Puyallup for use, and doesn’t address what happens to waste water. Years of housing development in the city have negatively affected the water’s natural flow into Clarks Creek, which empties into the Puyallup River.

Carter and Georga Prossick have advocated for action on the bad water quality. Prossick was part of an Elodea Task Force, which met last fall and recommended silt removal to City of Puyallup officials. The group chose Streamside Environmental, based out of Findlay, Ohio, which could remove the silt without causing harm to the creek habitat. Streamside gave a presentation in Oct. 2012 that was well attended. Streamside would demonstrate their technique on a 400-foot area to show how they would remove the sediment, would the City sign off on it.

However, City officials never put in a permit request for the silt removal. At a City Council meeting on June 4, Councilmember Steve Vermillion stated his concerns about acting too quickly.

“If we can’t get this done on a timely basis, I would prefer to go to 2014,” Vermillion said. “I would really like to see whoever does this have the success that we’re looking for, and I think we’re pressing this time limit way too close.”

Public Works Director Rob Andreotti echoed Vermillion’s concerns.

“We don’t have all of our permits in,” he said. “We want to make sure that we meet everyone’s needs.”

The result was a non-action by the council. The toxicity remains. In the retention pond, which is city-owned land, toxicity levels have reached 39 times the amount of toxins allowed by the regulation.

The Pierce County Health Department has posted a sign by the pond stating the danger present and warning others to stay away. If things continue to get worse, it will be harmful simply to breathe the air around the pond.
“It should never have gotten to this point,” Carter said.