Water, water, everywhere ...
But how to keep it clean?
By Bryta Alvensleben
Docks jut out from valuable lakefront homes and properties that form a semi-circle around the lake's north shores. A variety of small boats, kayaks, sailboats and even a few water planes bob alongside the stilted wooden fingers that extend human influence out into the lake.
Northshore Drive, Lakeway Drive and webs of roads navigating Sudden Valley hillsides provide a path for people, cars, bikes and pets to access the lake shores and surrounding wooded areas.
These same roads that allow people access to lake homes and recreation also create a real hazard for the more than 65,000 city and county residents who drink the water -- water that includes the run-off from pet feces, lawn and garden fertilizers and other by-products of daily human life.
Water activists and public officials agree that the cradle of development centered on the north shore of Lake Whatcom is now impacting the lake's water quality. And with that realization, there is also concern that the solutions officials are currently researching may be too costly to implement.
The roads and houses built around the lake are impervious surfaces, unable to absorb water. These surfaces allow more water from rains and home use to reach the lake.
Couple these impervious surfaces with the pollutants generated by the people who live in areas that drain into the lake and the lake can easily become contaminated from polluted storm water run-off.
According to a study conducted in spring 1998 by Western Washington University geography students, impervious surfaces in the north end of the lake have increased from 12.7 million square feet in 1988 to 16.7 million square feet in 1997, a 31 percent increase.
Common pollutants that result from development are pesticides, fertilizers, antifreeze, pet wastes and sediment from construction and land clearing.
The impact of these pollutants on the water quality of the lake directly affects Bellingham and county residents, whose drinking water is at stake, said Louise Bjornson, Bellingham City Council member.
"Our drinking water is kind of taken for granted," Bjornson said. "We turn on the faucet and take for granted that good, clean water will come out."
To deal with the current and future problems with the lake's watershed and water quality, the Bellingham City Council, Whatcom County Council and Water District 10 have signed an interlocal agreement.
The goal that the three groups are focusing on this year is storm water management: how to combat the polluted run-off resulting from the development in the watershed, Bjornson said.
The interlocal agreement outlines 21 goals for improving and protecting the watershed, which would help to maintain water quality in the lake. The agreement is especially important, Bjornson explained, because the city owns only part of the lake and watershed lands. The county owns the other share.
" There's only so much you can do without cooperation," Bjornson said. "We only own half the lake."
"People didn't foresee the effects of urbanization on the watershed," she said. "We need to start addressing how to minimize those effects."
Bjornson said septic tank leaks, faulty sewer lines and sewer overflows, along with stormwater run-off, are examples of urban pollutants.
Bjornson compared the Lake Whatcom watershed to the city of Seattle's Cedar River watershed, which she said is protected by chain link fences topped with barbed wire.
The Cedar River area sports guards, red and white "Keep Out" signs and miles of fence to protect and enclose virtually the entire 90,000-acre watershed, about the same size as the city of Seattle itself, according to The Seattle Times.
Bellingham does have some public ownership in the watershed. Bjornson said the city purchased a 7,000-acre parcel a few years ago.
"I think we have to do a multi-prong approach," Bjornson said. "We've worked on ownership and education, now stormwater management."
In the city's proposed 1999 budget, Bellingham has allocated $298,000 for the lake and watershed, said Jack Garner, director of public works. Part of the total, $123,000, will go to conduct annual water quality testing of the lake. The remaining $175,000 is budgeted for determining the impacts of stormwater run-off, and how best to treat and manage the run-off, Garner said.
The county will match the $175,000 from the city, and Water District 10 has promised $25,000 to the project, Garner said.
The bulk of the funds will go toward stormwater and surface management aimed at evaluating the impacts of development and logging, Garner said.
The storm water management plan will be an extensive undertaking, and very expensive, Garner said.
"Whatever it's going to be, it's going to be millions of dollars," he said.
Two storm water treatment basins are already in place, serving existing developments at the north end of the lake in the Briton Road vicinity, Garner said. Each basin cost the city approximately $200,000, and each serves to treat less than a 100 acres. Garner said 100 acres is a small area, considering the watershed in its entirety covers 250,000 acres.
The management plan will document "things that need to be done to reduce human pollution around the lake," Garner explained.
Ideally, the results of the research and testing will enable the city, county and Water District 10 to come up with specific goals to deal with stormwater, he said.
These might include:
- More storm drains
- More sewer pipes
- Correcting problems with existing sewer pipes
- Aggressive regulations and enforcement for leaky septic tanks
- Improving Water District 10 sewer overflow problems
The measures and studies to be undertaken by the interlocal agreement participants look good on paper. However, the cost of stormwater treatment and management could be prohibitively high, said Marian Beddill, a city resident and independent business owner.
Beddill has a long history of water-related experience. She has managed irrigation, flood control and water quality projects in Hawaii, and also manufactured and designed a line of irrigation equipment in Brazil, which is still being sold there.
"The mayor right now, and some other entities, are pushing for stormwater treatment with the principle thrust and action to treat water, while most other people say that does not work," Beddill said. "Treating stormwater cannot be done in a financially achievable way."
Bellingham Mayor Mark Asmundson said he does not see chemically treating the storm water as a viable answer to the question of Lake Whatcom's water quality. At best, such treatment could only address 50 percent of the pollutants in the water, which is not adequate, Asmundson said.
Instead, Asmundson said he sees several possible solutions for the watershed problem:
- Re-route storm water run-off through specially designed detainment ponds to filter out pollutants before the run-off reaches the lake
- Use watershed land for forestry, not development
- Educate the public on importance of protecting the watershed
- Implement stringent stormwater development standards for existing and future development
Emphasizing the importance of education and personal responsibility towards the goal of improved water quality, Asmundson said citizens have to be involved.
"People have to make smart choices on an ongoing daily basis," he said. "Have them just as eager to protect where they want to live as much as they want to be there."
People could choose not to use products that endanger the environment on their lawns or cars, Asmundson said. Also, people who own undeveloped land in the watershed could choose not to build on it, he said.
Asmundson said he does not know where the money for watershed protection will come from. He said there is a possibility of some money coming from the county flood tax, or a fee imposed on watershed residents and developers.
Bjornson is also concerned about where the money will come from. "I'm concerned. That's why I keep pushing for progress," she said.
The need for watershed protection as a public issue dates back to the late 1980s. Now, nearly 10 years later, no concrete action has been taken to deal with the negative impacts of development in the watershed. Local citizens use about 11 million gallons of water from the lake daily.
Currently, the city and its partners in the interlocal agreement plan only surveys and testing for most of 1999. There is no concrete funding set aside for when testing is completed and specific tasks for watershed protection are set.
Bjornson emphasizes the need for prompt action to prevent further impact on the lake's water quality. " There are a lot of problems we wouldn't have now, if people had made different decisions 50 years ago," she said.
