Despite thousands of dollars spent on experimental treatments the last three years, toxic algae continue to be a problem at 33-acre Waughop Lake at Fort Steilacoom Park.
Blooms of the blue-green algae have surfaced on cue the past few summers at the popular Lakewood recreation spot where ducks swim, people fish and walk their dogs and hobbyists run their model boats.
In 2007, the state granted $219,000 to use calcium hydroxide pellets to help eliminate the blooms at Waughop and the privately owned Steilacoom Lake.
The experiment didn’t work at either body of water, and the problem might have only grown.
One state lawmaker recently asked the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department to close Waughop to public access until conditions improve.
Instead, the health department plans to post signs telling people who fish there to release their catch, as the toxin could get in the muscle tissue of fish. Health authorities are also talking with state Fish and Wildlife about whether to continue stocking the lake.
The health department plans to study what, if any, treatment can be added to the non-circulating lake to prevent the algae from blooming without damaging fish and plants.
State Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, met last week with officials from the health department and the City of Lakewood, as well as Rep. Tami Green, D-Lakewood.
“I wasn’t intending for it to be a big deal,” Carrell said, referring to a letter to the health department in which he requested closing the lake. “But there are a lot of people in this area who think it’s a big deal and wanted to work with me.”
The effort coincides with a $750,000 grant the state received from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study toxins in Puget Sound area lakes.
The study focuses on 30 lakes in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties that are affected by surface and groundwater containing high concentrations of phosphorus, the nutrient that causes the toxic blooms.
According to a May 25 letter that Carrell wrote to the health department: “After two years of monitoring Lake Waughop, the problem and health concerns continue to worsen. Lake Waughop consistently tested at over 100 times the allowable level for toxins through the spring and summer of last year and throughout the spring this year.”
Don Russell is one of those who lobbied Carrell to close the lake. For years, he’s studied the prevalence of toxins in Waughop, American, Steilacoom and other local lakes, and has tried to get officials to take action.
“It’s not enough to post signs,” the Lakewood retiree said last week. “Something has to be done about it.”
Russell wants the lake closed until officials can control Waughop’s high levels of microcystin toxin.
But health and city leaders say a solution will likely be costly. Dredging or treating Waughop could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It comes down to, how do we pay for it?” said Mary Dodsworth, Lakewood’s parks and recreation director.
The lake, near the center of Fort Steilacoom Park and surrounded by a walking trail, isn’t fed by a river or creek. Water in this “kettle lake” doesn’t circulate naturally.
It has existed since at least the early 1900s, when patients in Western State Hospital’s Hill Ward maintained a nearby farm.
Since the 1970s, algae blooms have been reported in Waughop on occasion, although alerts about the toxic algae have increased in the last decade. Almost every summer, the health department issues warnings for people not to swim or let their pets drink the water.
“The algae blooms that occur in Waughop can literally vary from day to day,” said Frank DiBiase, assistant division director for the health department’s Environmental Health Division.
The lake already has some warning signs, but Russell argues Waughop is unsuitable for public use.
At Steilacoom Lake, meanwhile, the city, health department, state and neighbors have also tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the blooms. In 2005, Lakewood paid about $350,000 to install solar-powered floating mixers as part of the settlement of a water-quality lawsuit filed against the city by the Lake Steilacoom Improvement Club.
The water circulators failed. The company refunded the money, minus a $40,000 installation fee. Officials and the improvement club are considering other treatments.
“They have tried just about everything they can think of,” Russell said.
Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653
brent.champaco@thenewstribune.com
