Edmonds Environmental Council Calls on Edmonds City Council to Follow “Best Available Science” in Critical Area Ordinance Update
December 30, 2025
Continue reading “Critical Areas Ordinance Update – EEC Press Release”Category: All
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EEC Engagement on the Critical Areas Ordinance Update
Call to Action and CAO update status
By John Brock, EEC Board member
December 29, 2025
CAO Update
On July 18, 2025, the Edmonds Environmental Council (EEC) hosted a workshop at the Port of Edmonds to discuss how the organization should engage with the City of Edmonds. Participants expressed concern that the City was not adequately advancing the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) update required by the end of 2025. Based on that discussion, the EEC decided to engage constructively.
Continue reading “EEC Engagement on the Critical Areas Ordinance Update”Is development in Edmonds more important than safe drinking water?
By Joe Scordino
Edmonds Environmental Council
Posted Thursday, December 25, 2025
Link to Edmonds Beacon article
We have a serious human health issue brewing in Edmonds at the Deer Creek CARA (Critical Aquifer Recharge Area), which provides drinking water to south Edmonds, Woodway, and Esperance. The issue is accommodating potential development instead of avoiding contaminating our drinking water with PFAS – a pervasive, forever chemical known to have serious human health effects.
Believe it or not, the City actually wants to allow new development to inject potentially toxic stormwater (containing forever chemicals, PFAS, carcinogenic pollutants, etc.) into the Deer Creek drinking water Aquifer.
And why?
Continue reading “Is development in Edmonds more important than safe drinking water?”Readers view: Is development in Edmonds more important than safe drinking water?
By Joe Scordino
December 22, 2025
Link to article from My Edmonds News
We have a serious human health issue “brewing” in Edmonds on potential stormwater contamination of drinking water for southern Edmonds, Woodway and Esperance residents. The issue is accommodating potential development instead of avoiding health impacts caused by Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)-contaminated drinking water.
Continue reading “Readers view: Is development in Edmonds more important than safe drinking water?”Visualization and Modeling of Groundwater Pollution
By Andrew J.B. Cohen, PhD
New Jersey Institute of Technology
February 16, 2021
Presented at the Hugo Neu New Corporation Sustainability Seminar Series
Stevens Institute of Technology
Reader view: Updated critical areas ordinance threatens water quality
By Clinton Wright
December 14, 2025
Link to My Edmonds News article
An urgent warning to the good people of Edmonds, my adopted home town and former residence of over 40 years.
Continue reading “Reader view: Updated critical areas ordinance threatens water quality”Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Urban Stormwater Runoff: Insights from a Roadside Rain Garden
by Hadeer Saleh, Dibyendu Sarkar, Zhiming Zhang, Michel Boufadel, and Rupali Datta.
Abstract
Urban stormwater runoff is increasingly recognized as a critical but underexplored pathway for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to enter aquatic environments. This work investigated the occurrence and behavior of 40 PFAS compounds in stormwater runoff entering a roadside rain garden in Secaucus, New Jersey, during six storm events between August 2023 and July 2024. Total PFAS concentrations (Σ40 PFAS) ranged from 1437 to 1615 ng/L, with perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS, 239–303 ng/L) and perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA, 115–137 ng/L) consistently emerging as dominant species. Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSAs) together accounted for over 70% of the total PFAS mass. Despite its intended role in water quality improvement, the rain garden showed no measurable change in PFAS concentrations (differences of only 0.03–1.10%). These findings highlight the persistence and mobility of PFAS in urban stormwater runoff and the limited efficacy of conventional green infrastructure in mitigating PFAS contamination. Furthermore, they underscore the ineffectiveness of conventional green infrastructure for PFAS mitigation and the urgent need for advanced treatment technologies integrated into urban water management frameworks.
Reader view: Dead coho in Shellabarger Creek — was stormwater runoff to blame?
By Greg Ferguson and Jane O’Dell
December 6, 2025
Link to My Edmonds News article
On Oct. 16, a group of Edmonds-Woodway High School students with the Students Saving Salmon Club were performing routine water quality testing in Shellabarger Creek when they saw something disturbing: a young coho smolt swimming weakly on its side. On the shore nearby was another dead coho smolt.
Continue reading “Reader view: Dead coho in Shellabarger Creek — was stormwater runoff to blame?”Perrinville Creek: Critics accuse Edmonds of skirting environmental law
City responds to critics of the flow-diversion structure
By Brian Soergel
Edmondseditor@yourbeacon.net
Posted Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Link to Edmonds Beacon article
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has granted the City of Edmonds an expedited permit allowing crews to begin debris-clearing work at the city’s controversial flow-diversion structure on lower Perrinville Creek – a move that environmental advocates say again sidesteps long-standing legal and safety obligations.
Continue reading “Perrinville Creek: Critics accuse Edmonds of skirting environmental law”State approves Edmonds permit to do flood mitigation work on Perrinville Creek
The permit is the latest controversy in the years-long saga over Edmonds’ management of the stream.
November 17, 2025
Link to Everett Herald article
EDMONDS — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a new permit to the city of Edmonds on Friday, allowing flood-prevention work to commence at a controversial flow diversion structure on Perrinville Creek.
Continue reading “State approves Edmonds permit to do flood mitigation work on Perrinville Creek”State issues temporary permit for limited flood control work on Perrinville Creek
By Larry Vogel
November 19, 2025
Link to My Edmonds News article
There’s a new development in the decades-long tug-of-war between the City of Edmonds, the State Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), environmental groups and adjacent property owners to balance flood control and fish passage on lower Perrinville Creek. The DFW has issued a limited temporary permit to allow the City of Edmonds to clear accumulated debris from the city’s existing sediment trap/overflow structures, with the aim of mitigating potential flooding during the upcoming rainy season. The permit expires on Jan. 13, 2026, and work must be completed by that time.
Continue reading “State issues temporary permit for limited flood control work on Perrinville Creek”New Test Measures Toxin from Tires in Marine Life, Helping Understand Risk to Marine Species and Ecosystems
NOAA Fisheries
September 17, 2025
NOAA scientists develop method to track toxic chemical in finfish, shellfish, and marine mammals.
Edmonds Waterfront Center Environmental Series Sept. 11: ‘Caring About Our Roads, Car Tires and Coho Salmon’
August 31, 2025
My Edmonds News
Link to My Edmonds News Article
The Edmonds Waterfront Center welcomes Edward P. Kolodziej, internationally recognized environmental chemist and the Allan and Inger Osberg Professor at the University of Washington (Tacoma/Seattle) as the featured speaker in Annie Crawley’s Environmental Speaker Series. The event takes place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, the latest installment in a community-based science and conservation initiative focused on Puget Sound.
Continue reading “Edmonds Waterfront Center Environmental Series Sept. 11: ‘Caring About Our Roads, Car Tires and Coho Salmon’”Edmonds Environmental Council Update
August 31, 2025
It is time to renew your EEC membership and pay annual dues. Our membership cycle runs from July 1 to June 30 each year. Please follow the prompts on this form. Use the PayPal Giving Fund link to send your donation. If you have questions, please email us. Thanks! This seemed like an opportunity to update you on Project status.
Continue reading “Edmonds Environmental Council Update”Stream Team volunteers at work at Edmonds Marsh
Posted Thursday, August 21, 2025
By Beacon Staff
Link to Edmonds Beacon article
The Edmonds Marsh restoration volunteers were hard at work last week, spreading wood chips to prevent regrowth of invasive nightshade.
Continue reading “Stream Team volunteers at work at Edmonds Marsh”