Technical Report No. 10

REVIEW OF WATER QUALITY DATA IN THE PADILLA BAY/BAY VIEW WATERSHED

Douglas A. Bulthuis

October 1993

Bibliographic Citation
Bulthuis, Douglas A. 1993. Review of water quality data in the Padilla Bay/Bay View watershed. Washington State Department of Ecology, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Technical Report No. 10, Mount Vernon, Washington. 72 pp.

Abstract
The published and unpublished data on water quality in Padilla Bay and the Padilla Bay watershed is reviewed and summarized in this report. Few studies have been conducted on water quality in Padilla Bay or its watershed. The limited data available indicate that Padilla Bay usually meets the Washington State water quality standards for Class A marine water. Four areas of concern are the high turbidity of influent sloughs, the rate of nutrient flow to Padilla Bay, the periodic influx of bacterial contamination and the low level, widespread toxicity of the sediments. The limited data available indicates that in the watershed the freshwater in the sloughs is regularly not meeting the water quality standards for fecal conforms and dissolved oxygen. Turbidity and suspended solids are very high and similar to or above concentrations reported elsewhere in western Washington. Nutrient concentrations are similar to other agricultural watersheds and at concentrations at which eutrophication problems are "likely to exist." Temperature, total dissolved gas and pH of the sloughs almost always meet water quality standards. Most toxic materials that have been measured in the sloughs have not been detected or have been detected at low concentrations.