Mukilteo’s streams are like most developed areas in Puget Sound. Peak winter flows and low summer flows affect the health of the streams. Heavy rains scour streams and low summer flows decrease water quality. Land clearing, loss of trees, and impervious surfaces associated with development lead to:
- Increased erosion in the gulches
- Degradation of wildlife habitat
- Harm to the health of streams and Puget Sound
The City is required by the Washington State Department of Ecology to create a Stormwater Management Action Plan (SMAP). An SMAP is a plan to help improve water quality in a specific watershed. The city will complete an SMAP for at least one watershed in the city. The City will choose a watershed based on priority need. The City is using the 2013 Stormwater Strategies Plan as the basis for this work.
A watershed is an area of land that drains rainfall and snowmelt to streams, rivers, and lakes. The 2013 Stormwater Strategies Plan divided watersheds into Project Assessment Units (PAU). A PAU is a smaller watershed. The SMAP used information from the 2013 Stormwater Strategies Plan. This map shows the PAUs. More information on each smaller watershed is here Project Analysis Units (PAU) information maps
The 2013 Stormwater Strategies Plan and the SMAP both evaluated watershed conditions. However, the 2013 Stormwater Strategies Plan and the SMAP have some differences. These differences might lead to a different priority watershed. The main differences are:
- Strategies Plan included watersheds outside of the City. The SMAP reviewed only watersheds within the city limits.
- The SMAP added information about future growth
- The SMAP added information about overburdened communities.
- The 2013 Stormwater Strategies Plan considered Low Impact Development as the preferred action. The SMAP will consider additional actions.
We must now rank the watersheds (or PAUs). The ranking will determine where stormwater actions can improve water quality the most. Thank you for participating in our survey. We will use this information to inform the final rankings. Rankings are required to be complete no later than June 30, 2022. This page will be updated with the results.