Six major watersheds are located within the City of Shoreline boundary: Boeing, McAleer, Lyons, Thornton, Puget Sound Drainages and West Lake Washington. McAleer, Lyons, Thornton and West Lake Washington watersheds all eventually flow into Lake Washington. Boeing and the Puget Sound Drainages flow directly into Puget Sound.
A watershed or drainage basin is an area of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. The drainage basin acts like a funnel, collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channeling it into a waterway. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a geographical barrier, such as a ridge or hill, which is known as a water divide.
The watersheds in Shoreline are difficult to define by the eye because so many of the City’s streams are in pipes. The map below shows the different watersheds within the City and the storm pipe and stream network.
Stormwater Master Grid Updated 06/30/09 (41 mgs)
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Stormwater Basin Plans
Basin plans are watershed specific surface water management plans to reduce flooding, improve water quality and enhance stream and wetland habitat.
In 2009, the Thornton Creek Watershed Plan was the first basin plan to be completed in the City of Shoreline. This plan provides a roadmap to address flooding, aquatic habitat and water quality issues specific to the Thornton Creek watershed.
The next basin plan to be completed will be the Boeing Creek and Storm Creek Basin Plan. Please visit the Boeing and Storm Creek Basin Plans Project page for more information.
Basin Characterization Reports
The City has completed basin characterization reports for all of the City’s watersheds. These reports include a description of the basin and its aquatic resources including streams and wetlands.
Lake Ballinger Watershed Forum
In 2009, six local jurisdictions (City of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, City of Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, City of Lynnwood, and Snohomish County) within the Lake Ballinger/McAleer Creek watershed worked together through an interlocal agreement to prepare a strategic action plan that addressed issues related to water quantity and water quality within the drainage basin. Currently, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park and Snohomoish County have an interlocal agreement to begin implemenataion of the strategic action plan.
Lake Ballinger Watershed Forum
Watershed Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 8 Salmon Recovery Council (SRC)
In 1999, the federal government listed Puget Sound Chinook salmon as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA requires that a plan be developed and implemented to address recovery of the species. To reflect local conditions, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agreed to allow WRIAs to develop the draft salmon recovery plans for their approval.
In 2001, 27 local governments in King and Snohomish counties, including the City of Shoreline, signed an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) to create the WRIA 8 Forum and jointly fund the development of a conservation plan to protect and restore Chinook salmon.
After the development of the WRIA 8 Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan (the Plan) in 2005, the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council (SRC) was created to oversee the implementation of the Plan. Currently, Council members Chris Eggen and Christopher Roberts attend the SRC’s bi-monthly meetings.
For more information, visit the Salmon Habitat Conservation - WRIA 8 page.