Local group takes on water issue

By Bryta Alvensleben

Belief that certain goals put forward by the city, county, and Water District 10 are being overlooked has propelled three local residents to launch their own plan for safeguarding the Lake Whatcom watershed area.

They propose that the city purchase the remaining undeveloped land in the Lake Whatcom watershed.

Marian Beddill, Tim Paxton and Larry Williams combined their diverse backgrounds last March (1998) in an effort to achieve a common goal: a plan that would protect city drinking water and the Lake Whatcom watershed environment through public ownership.

Calling themselves "The Initiative Group," they have formulated a proposal they hope the Bellingham City Council will put to a public vote in March 1999.

"We have similar concerns for Lake Whatcom," said Beddill, a semi-retired civil engineer, meteorologist and computer consultant. "We are three citizens off in different corners whose concept, belief and perception was that things that needed to be done weren't being done."

TIG's plan advocates a long-term city purchase program aimed at buying land in the Lake Whatcom watershed area. Watershed ownership is included in the goals of an interlocal agreement by the city, county and water district, but there is no current action to push it forward, Beddill said.

"We realized work was going on for all other goals, except protection by holding land undeveloped. It was being ignored," Beddill said. "We emphasize all goals stated are important, necessary and should be done. We are raising the voice to say, 'Work on this one as well as the others.'"

The land bought by the program would be left undeveloped to protect the lake, though the group also proposes carefully managed logging of the property.

"There are tens of thousands of acres of forested land," said Paxton, who owns a local software company. "It could be put to use. Harvesting a single tree at a time without clear-cutting would be a way to bring in funds with a sustainable yield from the lands," he said.

Money from tree harvesting could then be used to buy more of the watershed area, Paxton explained.

Though sustainable use of forested lands could provide some money, the majority of the proposal's funding would come from a $40 million bond to be borrowed by the city.

City water users would pay off the bond through a $10 monthly charge added to each Bellingham household's water bill, Paxton said.

Williams and Paxton estimate that, if implemented, the plan could take 50 to 100 years to achieve its goal of city ownership of most watershed land. This is not unusual, Paxton said, explaining that the city of Seattle took about a 100 years to complete a similar protection plan that began in 1890.

"Holding the watershed land in public possession to preserve the land for now and future generations is imperative," Beddill said. "Anything else is unconscionable."

The group has considered other options for obtaining clean water. These included intensive treatment of the drinking water before it is piped to water users, or piping in clean water from other sources. Water treatment is more expensive than buying the land, however, and would not do anything to further the group's other goal of preserving the Lake Whatcom environment, Williams said.

"Resource management technologies are very short-sighted and wasteful," he said. "By not budgeting resources to go into the future, economic well-being is being wasted."

TIG believes it is important to take action to protect the watershed because of recent signs of the deteriorating water quality.

The north side of the lake, from where city drinking water is currently piped, shows more deterioration because it is more developed than the southern region of the lake, Paxton said.

Signs of lowered water quality include high E. coli counts at the north end, signs of gas, oil and antifreeze carried to the lake by run-off from streets and lawns, and the presence of harmful bacteria such as cryptosporidium and giardia, Paxton said.

Paxton contrasted the casual use of Lake Whatcom, which includes boating, swimming and jet skiing, with the Seattle watershed, where guards and fences make sure only authorized people are allowed in the watershed area.

"It's crazy," Paxton said. "Why are we doing this to our water supply?"

TIG emphasized that its proposal is still flexible, and it encourages public comments and suggestions. The group's proposal is on the Internet at www.nas.com/tig/.

"This is not a set-in-stone package by a long shot," Beddill said. "People really have a chance to give their input and have their say."