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logo: clark |
Lake Whatcom Reservoir Your Bellingham Drinking Water Story of Lake Whatcom speak to us: tig@lakewhatcom.org |
see also:
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logo: clark |
Lake Whatcom Reservoir Your Bellingham Drinking Water Story of Lake Whatcom speak to us: tig@lakewhatcom.org |
see also:
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* it's use as a potable water supply;....see also the Sudden Valley Sewer-Line timeline articles in The Whatcom Watch; issues of February and March, 2000.
* and it's misuse while the health of the public is at risk.
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most-recent at top
Time period |
Brief description of highlights of the period. | ||
| February 25rd, 2002 |
(date this page was last edited)
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| February 23rd, 2002 |
Pumping and hauling by WD10 from the detention tank into trucks, taken to Bellingham's trunk-line, with no undesirable discharges reported.
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| February 2nd, 2002 |
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| January 18, 2002 - mid-day |
MEETING REPORT
Public Meeting on Sewage Discharge Health Issues in downtown Bellingham. A presentation by Clean Water Alliance members was made to visually review the events before, during and after the sewerage discharge of mid-December, 2001; an open discussion followed. Representatives from the Washington State Health Department, one City and two County Councilmembers and at least one County Health Department official (*) attended to help explain what happened and what they are doing to prevent this from happening again. Some points from the meeting:
Allie and Ryan Cummings asked great questions and took a video of the meeting which will be available for anyone who could not make it. One person stated that kids walking in the sewage was their own fault for walking on private property (golf course). Some discussion of the Lake Louise level causing the problem was held. Not very convincing. The valve was still opened manually. Tip Johnson questioned the City's role of reducing infiltation and how that is affected when the City takes in Sudden Valley's sewage which has about 50% infiltration already. John Watts will look into it, he said. Many people stayed around past the 1:30pm end of meeting to discuss ideas. Many questions were asked all around; hopefully productive dialogue will lead to some solutions regarding the health aspects of preventing rather than allowing discharges of tons of raw sewage into our drinking water reservoir. Many thanks to Doug Tolchin and RiverOak Properties for use of the building! For more information : Please call Tim Paxton; 671-0417 Clean Water Alliance (*) Regina Delahunt, John Watts, Dan McShane, Laurie Caskey-Schreiber; (State DoH names not immediately available.) | ||
| December 18, 2001: |
"Comply immediately!" "....describes actions which must be taken immediately by WD10 to halt all sewage and wastewater overflows....[and]...submit to the DoE a revised plan for special operating procedures to eliminate any and all sewage and wastewater overflows...." Other communities have addressed I/I very well. Look at this plain-language webpage about how stormwater gets into the sanitary sewer system: MMSD = Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District | ||
| December 14th-17th, 2001 |
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| December 11th, 2001 (night) |
We got a moratorium! And it started NOW!
This is now history: COUNCIL AGENDA REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 11, 2001 Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue AGENDA {abstract} ........ PUBLIC HEARING ........ 5. Ordinance imposing a moratorium on the acceptance of new applications for subdivisions of land into parcels smaller than five acres within the Lake Whatcom watershed (AB2001-377A) (1.01MB) | ||
| December 11th, 2001 (daytime) |
Well, there's a flavor of progress around, even if not much real progress yet.
The Whatcom County Council is considering an Ordinance to place a temporary halt
on the acceptance of new applications for certain subdivisions within the lower watershed,
pending the completion of certain studies and conditions. That sounds good.
But there are 'maybe's' tacked on to the proposal: We think it's too little, and every day that passes is too late for that property parcel. The Whatcom Watch December issue has a major article on the Lake. Pick up a copy at one of the drop-sites | ||
| December 9th & 10th, 2001 |
And the erstwhile Bellingham Herald just ran a two-day set of stories on the issue:
PLANNING: County ponders 6-month subdivision moratorium. Owners of land rush for permits Data's limited on how homes affect lake Proposal calls for '110 percent' of pollution blocked at homes Citizens, builders keep watch on Silver Beach restrictions The Bellingham Herald OnLine, December 2001 | ||
| November 2001 |
It was November 2001, and there was junk in the Lake
Who put it there?
What else do our jurisdictions agree is contaminating the Lake?? mercury +++ urbanization +++ fossil-fuel powered boats | ||
| October, 2001 |
What have we seen our three jurisdictions ("CC10") doing or NOT doing?
Read the Scorecard: 1998-2001 | ||
| Year 2001 |
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| 1999 and 2000 |
In 1999 and
in 2000
we achieved somewhat of a success.
The City of Bellingham passed a watershed protection ordinance, {cautious smile}
which does about half of what our original TIG proposal asked. It will raise about a million dollars per year, to spend in relation to land around the Lake.
So; what is the City doing with this money? Try asking them; then tell us what you hear: e-mail to: tig@lakewhatcom.org | ||
| December 2000 |
We're Wondering What'll Be Next?? Pathogens from the Nooksack River? 
The Nooksack River Middle Fork Diversion Dam, which sends water to the Lake. looking east, upriver If water from the upper watershed continues to be diverted to the Lake, and pathogenically contaminated fish from the lower river are allowed to pass above the dam, this will bring their illnesses to the Lake! That's part of the story. The other part is the management of the diversion flow - it's reduction or elimination brings several positive results to the whole county's water management needs. | ||
| 2000 |
The Lake's watershed needs TLC in 2002 even more than in 1999 -- and will have a continuing and growing need every passing day. We believe three things:
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| 1975-2000 |
Sudden Valley Sewerage System History - 1975-2000 {courtesy: The Whatcom Watch)
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The Initiative Group -- Whatcom
Our bottom-line principles are: Protect the water supply in perpetuity -- maintain ecological viability of the lake for natural species -- distribute the financial burden fairly among those benefitting -- take immediate action if prudent -- take definitive action -- avoid actions which cut off future options. |
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leave a message from the website page URL: href="LakeWhatcom.org/history.htm" Bellingham, Washington 98226 --- The Fourth Corner of the USA edited 2004-03-27 -- mgb |
