[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6082094,"mediaKeyId","2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8","parentId",2939303,"title","Edmonds reports March sewage spill at Lake Ballinger, city buys abandoned house slated for demolition","audioSeconds",722,"startMs",2951935,"endMs",3674605,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8&start=2951&end=3674","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8/thumbnail_2951935.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6082094/Lake-Forest-Park/King-County/Washington/Edmonds-reports-March-sewage-spill-at-Lake-Ballinger-city-buys-abandoned-house-slated-for-demolition","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6082094-5ea5e69ef2a3c4fa8d8e21b1268fc42a/orig.mp4?Expires=1771183204&Signature=d1taxTOQYqCesfBDpSLt22XNP-BVvcsVmx1zfMt5o4ttyM1oi~sLSYwuwV2rTHAy1vBQvqJWxjLnI7-1VIQUCw5Hk9mcqalVdcZGnrrVoDgEa-WgQU9mHM2namGJxWlWgJkMfDGfsRpfvbGNacp3oHxiHpyegbT2itO6XKefA4wVR712r8YxNaQk5BOyZa9kejuBiztR07s5vxGufZ7vyTS~nEL~tEAEOKW4-gE6N5cUBdgJ91YBjU5t0SYPAJKtLpZ0V8tEsX7wTNPyBsDgBXAZvRJo3AOxC5olf1cDzXFuAaFxYuqmacGQM7jhwksvOB7FWJpTDGdEghr7enCSJw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City of Lake Forest Park, WA","date","2025-04-10T04:24:22.157Z","article","Patrick Johnson, stormwater technician for the City of Edmonds, told the forum that public‑works crews discovered a sewage release during routine inspections on March 12 and traced elevated bacteria to an outfall affecting Lake Ballinger.

“We did 7 rounds of testing on the lake, with the highest reading being 874 coliform units per hundred milliliters,” Johnson said. He said crews cleared the system and subsequent testing fell to 11 CFU/100 mL by the seventh round; the city posted then removed warning signs as testing returned to safe levels.

Johnson said investigators detected sewer indicators upstream near a condominium complex, but camera inspections did not locate a definitive origin; the cause remains under investigation and the city plans periodic monitoring through spring and summer.

Johnson also reported that the city completed a purchase of a long‑vacant property at 7317 Lake Ballinger Way and expects to demolish the unsafe structure next month, removing debris and restoring the lot (the city said the foundation may remain initially). He said future plans could include treating stormwater that discharges nearby but that redevelopment plans are preliminary.

Volunteer student Alex Cordova said his group found algal taxa in some stream samples downstream of Lake Ballinger. “I was finding a whole lot of Oscillatoria and a whole lot of navicular diatoms,” Cordova said; he explained that Oscillatoria is a cyanobacterium capable of producing cyanotoxins when disturbed and that navicular diatoms have silicate cell walls and do not decompose rapidly.

City staff urged residents to report algae sightings; Edmonds said laboratories can test suspect blooms if residents notify public works. Municipal staff also noted the lake monitor and water‑level data are available on the City of Edmonds website and that the lake currently has storage capacity heading into spring.

Forum participants discussed possible long‑term stormwater treatment options near the newly acquired lot because two outfalls run adjacent to the property; Johnson said treating stormwater before it enters the lake is a goal but would require future study and design.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Lake Ballinger McAleer Creek Watershed Forum - April 8, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","City of Edmonds staff reported a March sewage release that raised E. coli readings in Lake Ballinger, said the city purchased an abandoned, dilapidated house at 7317 Lake Ballinger Way for demolition, and noted resident reports of elevated algae; volunteer samplers also reported blue‑green algae and diatoms downstream in some slow‑flow reaches.","taxTitle","Lake Forest Park, King County, Washington","taxId",71686,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6082099,"WSDOT outlines $82 million estimate, multi-year plan to replace I‑5 culverts to restore fish passage at McAleer Creek",1115,1694370,2810090,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8&start=1694&end=2810","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8/thumbnail_1694370.jpg","/articles/6082099/Lake-Forest-Park/King-County/Washington/WSDOT-outlines-82-million-estimate-multi-year-plan-to-replace-I5-culverts-to-restore-fish-passage-at-McAleer-Creek","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6082099-7538468329448320dfd878369627a6e8/orig.mp4?Expires=1771183204&Signature=ZeMC-CjRd1z76XKqIijhsZk49G90F6D~vtyHJ2r4dHxMvMSdVLisJF~63mqh3njE4-NC9I0ZKTgg5baJxL376~ALxru2BWI5gmuiZJWJET5nrVRXoviDnRzBJIiAtJRKxq361FHbgVDz8Ipp9lifJnTAKRNnTJV39q3InbdlzIu19AHqM6w6GShFaQXMHWQZIgCJJHv~OTEg9i35e4MtANd0DsiWZdbZTM5bwafazPlDRWv2NDOQGBHzJIgmUUHe7UPqigA-zI86syo3apny7WJF9lqPW2nBOPoMmOcvbmtMYu3ETwhPX-fzj4aTdrMNOgSNbm5exGhdO6N2fXqPww__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Lauren Padgett, public information officer for projects and design at the Washington State Department of Transportation, described a design-build package to replace three culverts, two on McAleer Creek under Interstate 5 and one on Scriber Creek under SR‑524, intended to improve fish passage and open miles of upstream habitat.

“We’re estimating a total cost for design right of way and construction of about $82,000,000 for the 3 culverts,” a WSDOT project presenter said during the forum, adding that approximately $17,000,000 is currently funded for design and right-of-way work and that construction funding has not yet been secured.

WSDOT staff said the design phase will reach roughly 30 percent before the design-builder completes detailed design; the agency expects proposals from design-build teams in the summer of 2027, an award in fall 2027, and possible construction beginning in spring 2028 if funding and scheduling follow the current plan. WSDOT staff emphasized the funding and timeline are contingent on legislative priorities.

The project is part of the state’s fish-passage efforts tied to a court injunction requiring correction of certain state-owned culverts, WSDOT staff said. Replacing the McAleer and Scriber structures would open about 5.86 miles of upstream habitat for Chinook, sockeye, coho, coastal cutthroat and steelhead, according to WSDOT’s presentation and Department of Fish and Wildlife maps.

WSDOT described likely construction staging that could include lane shifts on mainline I‑5 and in the Northeast Cloverleaf area, with temporary excavation from the east side of I‑5 and incremental placement of larger precast concrete structures. Staff said sequencing and exact traffic impacts will be decided by the design-builder for constructability and efficiency, and that lane reductions have not been determined.

WSDOT staff also said one previously considered culvert (an unnamed tributary under a city maintenance road) was removed from the bundle after consultation with tribes and the Department of Ecology; that crossing does not meet the injunction criteria because it does not go under a state-owned roadway. WSDOT noted the bundle originally included an additional Thornton Creek site that has been removed and is being delivered separately because of complexity.

Forum participants asked about monitoring and responsibility after construction. WSDOT said design-build contracts include a post-construction monitoring period typically assigned to the design-builder; the state will maintain monitoring responsibility for crossings under state right-of-way after that period. WSDOT also said it will hold essential-services briefings and additional public outreach as the project nears the construction phase.

Officials emphasized the project’s trade-offs: the crossing under I‑5 is a complex, high-impact location that requires major traffic management to open several miles of habitat. WSDOT staff urged continued communication with local jurisdictions about sequencing and construction impacts and said more detailed monitoring, sequencing and permitting details will be firmed up in the RFP and proposal phase.","WSDOT presented a design-build project to replace two culverts on McAleer Creek under I‑5 and one on Scriber Creek, estimating $82 million for design, right-of-way and construction for three sites, with $17 million currently funded for design and ROW and construction funding pending legislative decisions.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6082103,"Lake Forest Park volunteers, college interns map small tributaries to spot water-quality “hot spots”",1620,66725,1686950,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8&start=66&end=1686","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2939303-9ba57330fed7952d37b71aac5e4011f8/thumbnail_66725.jpg","/articles/6082103/Lake-Forest-Park/King-County/Washington/Lake-Forest-Park-volunteers-college-interns-map-small-tributaries-to-spot-water-quality-hot-spots","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6082103-60c9405a7f970be81a7499d2a938cdd2/orig.mp4?Expires=1771183204&Signature=ciBaQQuUD-Sg~lKUyGxf0T16GGOUjJHmiyg-NaJxcLg4NTvzIqbTPn9G22fM~8NpOCNuE6XDt9l1OR8onAyeTRSAfTjdiGj4tlzhv0f8DqNbK1n24dXc23agayoOpR6HAYBUiB4b4sVIBdlExIBRWtqZXiNwF5fWer72D9izj5XRMsf6eyCYUwi0IDw385AKrUfRcsnxxWHItO1d-XtEtKBIIcIP3X1BUsDFXXlKGBhkYWrhGxm7F3Vm1yhwxo7zsVIZw3LoeKkZv2n1-vvDglnyCnsztfA6PoNn4XGsdsE4KlRqPlCHCnzIxQGKXu5sg9NxXfWPDlfYAqwahgRJKQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Brian Saunders, a Lake Forest Park resident and representative of the Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation and an instructor at North Seattle and Shoreline Community College, told the forum that a King County Water Works grant funded an internship to sample dozens of small tributaries feeding MacAler and Lyon creeks.

“The stewardship stream initiative ... is the beginning of what we call the use it program, which is the urban stream ecology internship,” Saunders said, describing a monthly sampling program that uses Department of Ecology methods and the Ecology water-quality index to score sites on eight parameters.

The student intern, Alex Cordova of North Seattle College, described field methods: a multi-parameter probe for pH, temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen, a colorimeter for suspended solids, and reagent/colorimetric tests for nitrates and phosphates. “We found the tributaries carry a lot of suspended solids and turbidity, and some streams bring low-oxygen water, especially where there’s decaying organic matter,” Cordova said.

Saunders said 12 students are participating in the first year; each student monitors several smaller tributaries, with most sites linked to an ArcGIS Survey123 dashboard that will publish month-by-month scores and parameter breakdowns. He noted the project is still preliminary — the group currently has about four months of data — and that the Department of Ecology index weights readings from salmon months (September–November), so the initiative expects to run at least two years to produce seasonal, actionable results.

The project uses the Ecology Water Quality Index (eight parameters including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, total suspended solids, total phosphorus, total nitrogen and E. coli) to convert laboratory and field measurements into a 0–100 score. Saunders said the approach helps pinpoint which tributaries and which parameters most adversely affect the main stems.

Local municipal officials at the forum welcomed the volunteer monitoring as a potential tool for targeting limited stormwater and restoration resources. John Featherstone, Water/Wastewater Systems Manager for the City of Shoreline, noted the value of identifying upstream contributors in neighboring jurisdictions. Patrick Johnson, stormwater technician for the City of Edmonds, and other municipal staff said they would be willing to explore data sharing and partnership opportunities.

The internship team plans to present preliminary findings at the University of Washington Undergraduate Research Symposium in May and hopes to continue monitoring through the year that includes salmon presence to get Ecology-compatible scores. Saunders and Cordova said they are also working to make the underlying GIS dataset easier for municipal staff to export and analyze.

The presentation prompted questions about how third-party, volunteer-collected data can be integrated into city monitoring programs. Saunders and municipal staff agreed the data would be useful programmatically but cautioned that agencies typically treat volunteer data as one tool among many and may require documentation of methods and quality control before using it for enforcement or engineering work.

The project’s next steps include finishing the first season of sampling, refining phosphate testing protocols, building regression models to explore distance and confluence effects, and expanding outreach so residents know how to use the maps to spot problem spots in their neighborhoods.","A volunteer-led internship in Lake Forest Park is collecting early water-quality data across dozens of small tributaries to MacAlister and Lyon creeks, aiming to produce publicly available maps and identify local sources of pollution that could affect salmon habitat.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Edmonds reports March sewage spill at Lake Ballinger, city buys abandoned house slated for demolition

WSDOT outlines $82 million estimate, multi-year plan to replace I‑5 culverts to restore fish passage at McAleer Creek

Lake Forest Park volunteers, college interns map small tributaries to spot water-quality “hot spots”