Interactive County-Wide Water Quality Maps

The Whatcom County Public Works (WCPW) staff coordinates with County Health, Planning and Development Services (PDS), Whatcom Conservation District (WCD), and State Departments of Agriculture (WSDA) and Ecology (ECY) to monitor water quality and respond to drainages where elevated bacteria levels are consistently observed. See interactive maps below for a compilation of preliminary results across watersheds. 

Click on the map below for routine/ambient and source tracking preliminary fecal coliform results collected by WCPW, WCD, WSDA, and ECY.New Online Map Opens in new window

   

Click on the map below for the Washington State Department of Health's commercial shellfish growing area status map. 

    DOHmap Opens in new window

  

This map is intended for COMMERCIAL shellfish harvesting purposes only. Click here for RECREATIONAL harvesting on public and private beaches.


View the City of Bellingham's Urban Stream Monitoring Program results here.


Glossary of Terms


Watershed: An area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel.
Routine/ambient monitoring: A fixed network of sites are visited on a pre-determined schedule to monitor water quality at that location during all types of environmental conditions. 
Source tracking/storm monitoring: Monitoring locations are specifically selected in order to target locations where high bacterial counts were recently observed. Also used to refer to monitoring that is conducted during specific events, such as storms. 
Preliminary data: Water quality sample results from the lab that are not yet finalized. Access to preliminary data is provided to accelerate the identification and correction of potential pollution sources.