Burnt Bridge Creek draft water quality improvement plan

The Burnt Bridge Creek Watershed is located in Vancouver, Washington. Portions of it don't meet water quality standards for temperature, bacteria, dissolved oxygen, and pH. We're working with partners in the watershed to address this pollution and cleanup the water by developing an advance restoration plan (ARP) in advance of a TMDL. This will help speed up the implementation of best management practices to improve water quality.

Burnt Bridge Creek is on our impaired waters list (303d list) for warm water temperatures, bacteria pollution problems, low dissolved oxygen, and pH imbalances. Under the Clean Water Act, we're required to develop a cleanup plan for this waterbody.

Keeping the watershed clean is important because high bacteria levels increase risks to people who enter the waterbody. Warm water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen also create poor conditions for aquatic ecosystems, fish, and wildlife.

Background

The federal Clean Water Act requires states to develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) — or water quality improvement plan — for each water body on the state's polluted waters list, also known as the 303(d) list. This science-based approach assigns a numerical value that represents the highest amount of a pollutant a surface water body can receive and still meet the water quality standards.

Learn more about the TMDL process.