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IkeSeptember 29th, 2013, 11:03 pm
MN

Posts: 14		what is the best way to potentially deal with a stream that steadily warming due to close by housing development? obviously removing the development would do it but if thats not possible what can be done? restructuring the bank? plant trees around the banks? maybe even a bottom release damn? just wondering how other streams have tackled the issue.
StokesOctober 1st, 2013, 11:50 am
Columbia county,NY

Posts: 76		Just curious,how did the development cause the warming?
TroutnutOctober 1st, 2013, 9:37 pm
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2737		Yeah, we need more details before anyone can answer this question.

Development can cause streams to warm in various ways. For example, pavement usually leads to warm quick runoff and lower water levels between rain, while the natural soil might soak up the rain and release it over a longer period of time as cool ground water. Cutting riparian vegetation so sunlight hits a stream can have a major warming effect, too. In worst case scenarios, development could impede the flow of a natural cold spring so the water warms up before it hits the stream. All of this depends on the size of the developed area relative to the size of the stream. It would be unusual for a single housing development to substantially warm a decent-sized stream, but it's probably not totally out of the question.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
EntomanOctober 3rd, 2013, 4:54 pm
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604		Headwater and tributary drainage degradation (usually meaning deforestation) and upstream top spilling dams are other causes.

Is the water only warming below the development? If so, is there a major trib or groundwater source entering at or near the development that could have its own issues? Was adjacent riparian habitat destroyed by the development - is drainage from it entering the stream? Regulations are pretty strict now on the impact of storm drainage and the management of waste water for projects in close proximity to watersheds. How old is it?
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman

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