KENT, Wash. — A King County river has been identified as one of the most endangered rivers in America.
Advocacy group American Rivers listed the Green-Duwamish River as number 5.
The Duwamish and the Green are the same river. The Green-Duwamish flows from the Black Diamond area west to Auburn, then north to Kent and Tukwila. The lower 11 miles of the Green River, from Tukwila downstream to the mouth, is known as the Duwamish Waterway.
The group says the Green-Duwamish has outdated dam and floodplain management and too much pollution from urban runoff and contaminated sites.
The Washington State Department of Health warns people not to eat crab, shellfish, or resident fish from the Lower Duwamish River because they are too toxic.
“A lot of progress has been made but we still have a lot of work to do,” said Christie True with King County Natural Resources & Parks.
"The biggest current problem we all face together is cleaning up polluted storm water runoff," said Mark Powell with the Washington Environmental Council.
The pollution is so bad, the federal government has put together a $342 million plan to clean up the rivers in the next two decades.
Another issue is with the Howard Hanson Dam, which is used for flood control. American Rivers says it keeps salmon from swimming up the headwaters of the river to spawn and that the Army Corps of Engineers should build a fish passage system for young salmon and steelhead to migrate downstream.
“We need to walk the talk and protect and restore salmon, protect and restore the river that are icons of our way of life in the region.
The Green-Duwamish has never been on American Rivers' top 10 most endangered list.
The group hopes its ranking will lead to action at the Howard Hanson Dam.
Cox Media Group
