The Eld Inlet Watershedby Ed O'Brien Two recent decisions could affect water quality in the Eld Inlet Watershed. First, the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board found that Thurston County's decision to extend a small diameter sewer up Cooper Point does not comply with the State Growth Management Act. Construction of the sewer was a recommendation of the recently adopted Cooper Point Wastewater Management Plan. The sewer is intended to serve the Tamoshan and Beverly Beach developments, whose small treatment plants are nearing the end of their useful life. The sewer is also intended to serve some of the projected failures of on-site septic systems that could threaten Eld Inlet water quality. In its decision, the Board found that the County did not meet the test in state law that requires that urban services not be extended beyond the urban growth boundary "except in those limited circumstances shown to be necessary to protect basic public health and safety and the environment." The County has decided to appeal this decision. Ironically, the County's plan to extend the sewer received a high ranking for a design and construction grant from the Department of Ecology, which will be moot if the County does not get the Hearings Board decision overturned in a timely fashion. The County's Plan has been controversial from the start, with a slim majority of a citizen's advisory group supporting the plan. Regardless of the outcome of that issue, the crucial element in the Cooper Point Wastewater Management Plan for protecting Eld Inlet are the recommendations to establish an Area of Special Concern and to institute an operation and maintenance program for onsite septic systems. The County Commissioners sitting as the Board of Health will be discussing that issue in the near future. The second decision occurred a few months ago, when the City of Olympia adopted interim development standards for that area of the city within the Green Cove Basin. The City's actions reduced the maximum density allowance and instituted other development-standard changes in an effort to reduce the impacts to Green Cove Creek and the Grass Lakes Refuge. The city council voted for these changes after reviewing the results of recent research that show how development impacts creeks and wetlands systems. Because the majority of the Green Cove Basin is outside the existing city limits, and a good portion lies outside the Urban Growth Boundary, the City and County will need to develop a cooperative approach to protecting the basin. The County adopted a stormwater basin plan for Green Cove Creek last year. That plan called on the City and County to revise development rules to protect the basin. However, it relied heavily on voluntary landowner incentives to achieve preservation of the natural land cover. Preservation of the natural land cover is the key to protecting the creek and wetlands. Ed O'Brien is Chair of the Eld Inlet Watershed Council.
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