Lake Whatcom
"If the Lake is allowed to continue its decline, the result will be harmful to both wildlife and to people. The cost of treating our drinking water will grow by millions of dollars."
What actions should the city take to protect Lake Whatcom water quality?
The primary threat to our water quality is water run-off from
development – our roads and houses and yards. Excessive phosphorus and
other contaminants drive a downward cycle in water quality, which
challenges our water treatment system with growing levels of
pollutants and dead algae. The results are escalating water treatment
costs and increasing levels of harmful chemical by-products from the
treatment process.
To protect water quality, we need to reverse the harmful changes in
the lake caused by run-off from developed portions of the watershed.
We need better "source control" to keep stormwater on-site and direct
it into the ground and vegetated areas, where it is filtered
naturally.
To bring about this change, we will need to move on several fronts. I
recently served on the Lake Whatcom Technical Review Taskforce, where
we developed a list of thirty-three specific and practical "management
actions" which the City can evaluate for implementation. These actions
include land conservation, stream repair, better development
practices, and retrofitting our streets and roadsides so that they do
not contribute to the problem.
What responsibility does the City of Bellingham have for the
protection of its drinking water reservoir?
From a legal perspective, the City’s greatest responsibility for
restoration of the lake arises out of the federal Clean Water Act and
related states laws aimed at environmental protection. The city’s
obligations for protecting drinking water quality arise out of
constitutional obligations to protect public health and safety.
However, these obligations have been met with increased (and
increasingly expensive) municipal water treatment. To keep our
drinking water clean enough so that we can afford to treat it should
be the City’s main goal. Therefore, the City’s responsibilities do not
stop at our city limits, I believe, but extend to the entire reservoir
and watershed, meaning close cooperation with the County Council will
be necessary.