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Edmonton’s Mill Creek is one of the most polluted urban creeks in Alberta, according to a new citizen monitoring effort.

CreekWatch, a project of the RiverWatch Institute of Alberta, used 68 volunteers to regularly test water quality in 10 creeks last summer. Mill Creek ranked last for water quality, with high levels of salt, phosphorus and other pollutants.

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It’s E. coli bacteria count, measured weekly, was double the level found in Calgary’s troubled Nose Creek and more than four times the acceptable level for swimming.

“These creeks, some of them are neglected, but a lot of people live along them,” Reed Froklage, citizen science co-ordinator with the Calgary-based group that released the findings, said Tuesday.

There are healthy creeks, too, he said, pointing to Calgary’s Fish Creek.

“It’s a cool way for people to do science and see science working in the community they live in,” said Sahra Deagle, a volunteer who monitored Edmonton’s Whitemud Creek, which was in the middle of the pack.