Mill Creek water quality ranks lowest of 10 urban Alberta creeks

Edmonton's Mill Creek ranks dead last inwater quality out of 10 urban Alberta creeks tested last year.

• City looks at options to improve Mill Creek water quality
• City to move floating dock upstream to protect fish habitat

That's according to CreekWatch, a project of the RiverWatch Institute of Alberta, which tested the creeks with the help of 68 volunteers and just released a reportof their findings.

Edmonton's Wedgewood, Blackmud and Whitemudcreeks all faredbetter than Mill Creek.

High levels of phosphorous, salt, pollutants

Mill Creek water samples showed high levels of phosphorus, salt, and other pollutants, while the amount of E. coli found was about average compared to the nine othercreeks.

"All the creeks kind of work as a storm water conduit," said ReedFroklage, aRiverWatchscience coordinator. "We drain all our subdivisions into these areas. We want to make sure that they stay healthy and stay pretty because that water ends up into the next body of water which would be our big rivers."

The City of Edmonton is aware of the issue, and a senior environmental engineer said the water in Mill Creek avoids the city's drinking water supply asit feeds into the North Saskatchewan River.

"Mill Creek and the area around it was developed many many decades ago,"said Ross Bulat, senior environmental engineer with the city. "It's built to a different standard than we'd expect today so we're working to try to rectify some of those issues.

"In the early 2000s, an oil separator was put on part of the creek to take hydrocarbons out of the creek," he added."In the future, we will be looking at low-impact development to help improve water quality and reduce some erosion issues as well."

The city also wants residents tohelp ensurecleaner water in Mill Creek and other creeks in Edmonton.

It rolled out a program called Rain Garden In A Box, which teaches homeowners to direct stormwater into a garden where it's absorbed,preventing it from draining into creeks.

Edmonton is also encouraging people to reduce the amount of fertilizer they use on their lawns and to stick to professional car washes instead of washing their vehicles in their driveways.

CreekWatchvolunteers will begin testing Edmonton creeks again next week for the 2017 report.

Travis.mcewan@cbc.ca

https://twitter.com/TravisMcEwanCBC