Windsor Creeks - Monitoring
An Overview of Windsor's Creeks
There are five major creeks which flow through the Town of Windsor. These creeks are:
- Windsor Creek
- East Windsor Creek
- Pool Creek
- Pruitt Creek
- Starr Creek
- Faught Creek
Scroll down below to view the image of Windsor Creek watershed and the creek subwatersheds within it, or download the PDF version here: Watershed Map
There are a few additional creeks which flow through the Town of Windsor near or just outside of the town limits but contribute to the Town’s overall watershed. These creeks are:
- Gumview Creek
- Sotoyome Creek
- Airport Creek
Like all creeks, Windsor’s creeks provide habitat – a home – for various forms of life including beneficial insects, frogs, and in some creeks, even fish. Creek banks also provide shelter and drinking water for many different types of birds, reptiles and even some small mammals. On portions of Windsor and East Windsor Creek trails, creek side trails provide scenic walking, jogging or biking opportunities.
Each creek has a watershed. A watershed is the surface area that drains into that creek. Rainwater flows over all the open land, roads, rooftops and parking lots in a watershed and drains into a waterbody. The creek that receives all that water runoff from its watershed also receives all of the pollutants carried with it. Those pollutants might be pesticides off a lawn, oil that dripped from a car or litter that is dropped on the ground rather than placed in a waste bin.
Combined, Windsor’s creeks have a total watershed area of approximately 7,320 acres. All of these creeks meet just southwest of Windsor and flow into the Laguna de Santa Rosa. The Laguna is part of a larger regional watershed called the Russian River Watershed, and it drains into the Russian River just north of Forestville. To learn more about the Russian River Watershed, visit the Russian Riverkeeper website here.
Monitoring
To protect Windsor’s Creeks, the Town’s Storm Water Program monitors water quality and looks for pollutants that could be harmful to our water ways. We do this by taking samples at two outfall locations; (an outfall is where the storm drain empties into the creek). Our first outfall location is on Pool Creek, where we take samples during the wet season (Oct-Mar). Our second outfall location is on Windsor Creek, where we take our dry weather samples (April-Sept). All wet weather samples are taken during a rainstorm event. By taking multiple samples at different locations throughout the year, we are able to get the best representation of what pollutants our Town is contributing to the watershed.
Some pollutants of concern we are looking for are bacteria, viruses, pesticides, excess nutrients, toxic chemicals, sediment, and heavy metals. Windsor’s intent, through its Storm Water Quality Ordinance and other Public Works Storm Water programs, is to improve the water quality in its creeks.
In 2018, we also conducted a bioassessment study, focusing on the chemical, physical, and biological health of a specific section of East Windsor Creek. We found that there was plentiful habitat availability for benthic invertebrates (organisms that live in or around the stream bed that lack a backbone), dense canopy cover which is great for keeping water temperatures cool, a wide variety of riparian (creek bank) vegetation and a moderately rich biological community with the presence of insects, indicating a relatively healthy stream!
2015-2021 Creek Monitoring Evaluation
Please help protect our watershed by reporting any of the following:
- leaks and spills
- dumping of liquids, trash or debris
- missing or faded storm drain labels
- clogged storm drains
Report to Windsor Public Works
(707) 838-1007 – 7 a.m.-6 p.m. M-Th
(707) 838-1000 – 24 hours per day
Or email stormwater@townofwindsor.com