Water
Quality
The Conservation
District has been assisting with the funding of a
county-wide water quality monitoring program since 2002.
Water Quality
Monitoring Final Report 2005 (685 KB PDF)
Map of the
Testing Locations (JPEG 100 KB)
About the
Testing Sites (PDF 1.1 MB)
You can read about how the labs perform the testing while
engaging local high school students at:
University of
Washington's Friday Harbor Labs Water Quality Monitoring
Program
Local high school students provide a community service and
learn about water quality monitoring techniques in the
field.
PCBs
High levels of PCBs have been detected in fish tissue in
Mountain & Cascade lakes on Orcas Island:
WA State Toxics Monitoring Program
Contaminants in Freshwater Fish in 2004 and
2005 (PDF 800 KB)
Water Quality
Monitoring
If you are interested in water quality monitoring, or how
other groups monitor it, you can download this report:
Water Quality Monitoring Guide
(Oregon) (PDF)
Wetlands
Wetlands have many valuable functions to play in the
environment, one of the major roles is in acting as a
purifying resource. Learn more here:
Exploring Wetlands Stewardship
(PDF 1.1 MB)
Exploring Wetlands Stewardship
(Canada) (PDF 700 KB)
Other Reports
This problem particularly affects Lopez due its composition
of mainly glacial till. Other islands are affected though,
usually where wells are being drilled close to salt water
(eg Deer Harbor).
Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers
(1999) (PDF 128 KB)
