BAY VIEW — During heavy rains, some residents in the rural village of Bay View wonder: Where does all this water come from?

Knowing where water comes from and where the runoff goes can help residents when drainage problems occur, assist government agencies working on regional stormwater problems, and aid developers looking to build in the area.

Thanks to Jack Middleton, Bay View residents will soon know where all that water originates.

For the past few months, Middleton, 64, and his dog, an Australian shepherd also named Jack, have taken to the community’s roads, shorelines, forests and fields to map the drainage basins.

Once finished, Middleton will give the map to the Bay View-Padilla Civic Association, a group of property owners. Superimposed on a high-resolution aerial photograph, the full-color map will detail the elevations of land, drainage basins, pipes and culverts.

“It’s been a community effort besides just Jack and me walking around,” Middleton said. “Sometimes you’re huffing and puffing to keep up with the property owner. It’s a whole lot bigger than I thought when I started.”

Middleton, a self-described “map nut” who has lived in the community since 1979, said he thought a map with an aerial photograph would help residents see where the water flows. The project is part of his volunteer efforts with the Skagit Conservation District’s Watershed Master Program.

So far, about 30 property owners have walked their land with Middleton and he hopes to work with even more owners.

Association president Bob Stratton said he learned through Middleton’s efforts that people have diverted water in the area since the rural village of Bay View, which overlooks Padilla Bay, was established in 1884. Almost 3,600 people live in the Bay View and Bayview Ridge areas, according to the U.S. Census.

“It does a couple of things for you,” Stratton said. “If you are going to build and do anything, you can see where it’s going to impact. If you are the recipient of the water, you can find out where it’s coming from.”

Initially, Middleton mapped the drainage systems in Bay View village, but he ended up including the surrounding land — an area that’s roughly 1,000 acres. The smallest drainage sub-basin that he’s mapped is 2.5 acres; the largest, 100.

The Bay View village watershed lies between two other watersheds that feed Joe Leary and No Name sloughs, which are north and south, respectively, of the community. The Joe Leary and No Name watersheds have been studied by consultants hired by Skagit County, but the county has not studied Bay View’s hydrology. All three watersheds drain into Padilla Bay, which is home to shellfish and fish that feed herons and salmon.

When Middleton goes out to see where the water flows, he doesn’t carry electronic equipment. Instead, he uses pens to mark up a copy of an aerial photograph printed with topographic markings. He and his dog go out after a rainfall and tour the land with the property owner, walking through pastures, forests and backyards to locate the direction the water is flowing.

“The field work is great, meeting people and talking,” Middleton said.

Some of the farmers’ drainage ditches have been in place for more than 100 years, Stratton said.

“He (Middleton) found some interesting things in his study, as well he can tell you where all the blackberry brambles are,” Stratton said jokingly. “He’s come out of the woods pretty scratched up.”

One mystery Middleton helped solve was that of a fence surrounding a deep pond. It’s unusual to fence ponds in the area because many provide water for livestock, he said.

A man who grew up in Bay View told Middleton that in the 1920s and ’30s the pond supplied water for houses on Bay View-Edison Road, Stratton said.

“The people are long gone and so is the story, except for this guy,” Middleton said.

The map will be very helpful for both the local landowners, government agencies and developers, say experts in hydrology and water quality.

“You can learn a lot from local landowners, who have knowledge of history and how the local resources have been used in the past and maybe why a ditch was put where it was,” said Sally Lawrence, a state Department of Ecology water quality specialist. “We know (water) goes from point A in the mountains to point B in the (Puget) Sound. We don’t know all the little ways it gets to point B.”

Jan Flagan, assistant surface water manager for Skagit County, has already asked Middleton for a copy of his map. Flagan said it could help the Skagit County Drainage District deal with problems caused by stormwater runoff. The map also will be helpful to anyone who wants to develop in the Bay View area, she said.

“If they have to do a drainage evaluation, they already have the infrastructure mapped out,” Flagan said. “A developer would really like that information.”

Already, the map has helped solve a relatively minor nuisance of consistently soggy ground found around the community center on C Street and a neighboring yard, Stratton said. Looking at the map, community members realized that the problem was caused by debris in an old ditch. The water seeped into the ground around the community center, he said.

“It was a matter of a couple of people getting a small backhoe and cleaning that ditch,” Stratton said. “It’s been a help and an education knowing what’s going on around us and all that, and knowing where all the water is going.”

The map also might help the community make decisions in the future. Skagit County Department of Health officials have raised concerns about community septic systems because of water quality issues in the area. The department is worried that failing septic systems are causing high levels of bacteria in Padilla Bay.

“When they start looking at runoff and the pollution going into the bay, it’s helpful to know where the water is really coming from,” Stratton said.

Middleton doesn’t take water samples and his map doesn’t deal with water quality. Instead, it focuses on the topography and how water flows. He looks at the project as something that will give his neighbors information they didn’t have before.

The map is just one of many projects Middleton has been involved in since he retired last year from the Snohomish County Health District, where he worked as an environmental health specialist. Middleton and his wife, Anne, a retired teacher, have joined various volunteer groups and learned about creating backyard wildlife habitats, composting and shoreline stewardship.

“You meet the neatest people when you get involved with those groups,” he said.

To start his map, Middleton got a copy of an aerial photograph with a topographic map superimposed on it from the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Bay View. He made copies to take into the field and transferred the data onto the original.

“I’m a map nut,” Middleton said. “I’ve got maps everywhere.”

First, Middleton focused on the drainage under the village. He said that he learned a lot, especially trying to untangle the “mishmash” of underground pipes that in some cases cross over each other. After traipsing the ground, he would return home, puzzle over his field notes and painstakingly transfer what he saw on the ground onto his map. Sometimes he had to return to a site to ensure he got the right direction of the flow.

“How do you turn all those squiggly lines into something useful?” said Middleton, remembering his first efforts.

Middleton said the project was bigger than he thought it would be. Since starting the project this spring, he expanded the area he is mapping.

“It gets complicated out there. There are lots of different drainages,” said Kristi Carpenter, public information and education coordinator for the Skagit Conservation District, which works with landowners on matters of water quality.

“Figuring out where it goes is part of the mystery. He was instrumental in figuring out where it all goes.”

After living in the community for almost 30 years, Middleton’s mapping project has given him a new way of looking at the land.

“I’m looking at places I’ve never seen before,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun. Everyone was willing and glad to show me their property and where the water is and ditches are and stuff.”

n Marta Murvosh can be reached at 360-416-2149 or .