Surface Water Management Division

Cemetery Creek Watershed

The Cemetery Creek watershed is of importance to salmonid production in the Snohomish River and is significant to the residents who live along the creek and enjoy the fish and wildlife there. Severe degradation of urban streams like Cemetery Creek is not acceptable to many watershed residents.

A local group, Friends of Cemetery Creek, decided to study the water quality of their streams. Residents volunteered to collect monthly water quality samples at nine sites along the creek. These volunteers were Jim Pilling, Mike Hansford, and B.J. Smith. They sampled the water for dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity (amount of suspended sediment in the water), and temperature. Their work began in April 2001 and finished in March 2003.

In support of the citizen effort, Surface Water Management water quality staff measured water conductivity quarterly, assisted with data analysis, and installed a data logger to record water temperatures at two-hour intervals throughout the summer. The water quality staff also addressed immediate water quality problems that the citizens identified in the course of their work.

The purpose of this intensive water quality sampling effort was to assess the quality of the water and identify sources of pollution in the Cemetery Creek watershed. SWM uses the sampling data to determine what types of pollutants were affecting the stream.  

Cemetery Creek Water Quality Results

Descriptions of water quality testing parameters

Report on Results of Water Quality Monitoring from April 2001 through March 2003

Map of water quality monitoring sites

Water Quality Data 
 

Contact

Cindy Flint, Snohomish Watershed Steward, 425-388-6628