Submitted by Don Russell, Lakewood.
I noted in my daily walk around Waughop Lake this morning this ancient (2017) artifact propped up against a large redwood tree.
I hadn’t seen this sign since it appeared in Waughop Lake in the winter of 2017 when it was realized that Pierce College had intermittently been discharging raw sewage into Waughop Lake for the past 40 years.
I first reported this condition to the City of Lakewood back in 2007.
At that time the explanation for this condition was that this raw sewage discharge into Waughop Lake was a one-time occurrence related to an overturned portapotty associated with a campus construction project.
When this intermittent discharge of raw sewage finally stopped in 2017 Waughop Lake’s recurring harmful cyanobacteria blooms ceased. In 2018 the lake began a natural transition from its turbid water cyanobacteria dominated stable state to a clear water aquatic plant dominated stable state.
But this transition stopped in March of 2020 when a City of Lakewood consultant prescribed, Ecology permitted, and a City contractor discharged a large quantity (40 mg Al/L) of liquid aluminum sulfate and sodium aluminate into the lake. This treatment resulted in a transient clear water state but resulted in eliminating all beneficial aquatic plant growth in the lake. A second July 2020 discharge of 40 mg Al/L alum and a third June 2023 20 mg Al/L alum treatment of the lake has resulted in a now aluminum, sulfate, sulfide, and sodium ion polluted lake that is unfit habitat for the prolific aquatic plants, frogs, turtles, fish and waterfowl population that once thrived in Waughop Lake. So far, the City has spent $630,000 to create this unhealthy condition in Waughop Lake.
Waughop Lake needs to be restored as a fit habitat for all its former native inhabitants.
Don….you should let Pierce County Health Dept know that sign exists and should pick it up…..it did cost taxpayers to have it made.
They will likely need it again to let nearby Spanaway Marsh residents of such messes if the Tiny Village project comes to fruition.
Thank you Don!
Don,
I want to express my appreciation for your article and for bringing some additional attention to the issue of the now-dead lake. It seems that many Lakewood residents are not aware of this City’s mismanaged environmental disaster and the resulting gross financial waste of taxpayer money.
It might be beneficial to publically present the “sign” to the City of Lakewood Management as an award for their poor stewardship.