In 2014 the City of Lakewood received a grant from the state Department of Ecology to develop a lake management plan for Waughop Lake.
Located in Fort Steilacoom Park, the shallow body of water sees many visitors who walk, run or bike the 1-mile paved trail around its perimeter. Visitors watch birds, fish and race model boats on the lake.
Waughop Lake has a long history of toxic cyanobacteria blooms, also referred to as harmful algae blooms. It has deteriorated water quality due to decades of poor waste management practices. Manure and other agricultural waste were dumped into the lake between 1900 and 1965 from a farm operated by Western State Hospital.
These discharges led to the buildup of loose, nutrient rich sediments. These sediments have fueled nuisance algae growth and toxic cyanobacteria blooms. Between 2008 and 2018, it was common for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department to issue health advisories restricting contact with the water.
Waughop Lake is 33 acres (approximately 0.25 miles in diameter at its longest point). It is only 7 feet deep with water levels at their highest point. Rainwater, ground water and storm runoff are its primary water sources. The lake does not feed into creeks or streams. Instead, the water is retained on site. The water levels rise and fall with ground water.
During the summer, overall water depth reduces to 3 to 4 feet at the deepest point. This shallow depth during the hotter months, coupled with the nutrient rich sediments, caused the toxic blooms in this small body of water.
The city developed a lake management plan with the water body’s many constraints in mind. This included the shallow depth, the nutrient rich sediment and the lack of new water regularly cycling through to flush the lake.
The plan identified treating the lake with aluminum sulfate (alum) to remove phosphorus from the water column and inactivate phosphorus in the sediments. This practice is common and does not result in long-term impacts to pH or alkalinity in water.
Using alum as a treatment is a longstanding practice in lake management nationwide. It has been used to treat water bodies for 50 years. It is used in 250 lakes across the country, including other well-known lakes in Washington. They include Seattle’s Green Lake, Lake Fenwick in King County, Black Lake in Thurston County, Stanwood’s Lake Ketchum and Lake Stevens in Snohomish County.
The city looked at dredging the lake to remove the phosphorus-rich bottom sediments. This option was not finically feasible and would negatively impact Fort Steilacoom Park. It would require a 20-acre treatment pond, and the city would have to close off 30 acres of the park to dry the sediments for at least a year.
In 2020 and again in 2023 Waughop Lake was treated with drinking water treatment-grade alum to reduce phosphorus concentrations and mitigate toxic algal blooms. The city received a permit from the state Department of Ecology to conduct the treatment. The permit required monitoring and testing of the lake.
The treatments dramatically reduced phosphorus availability in Waughop Lake. They prevented toxic algae blooms in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024, even with elevated chlorophyll concentrations (the amount of algae in the lake) in late 2023 and throughout 2024.
Because of the alum treatments, Waughop Lake has not experienced a toxic algae bloom for the first time in over a decade. Detections of cyanotoxins are below state recreation guidelines.
The alum treatments have been effective in reducing phosphorus concentrations and subsequent cyanobacteria blooms, providing a safer lake environment for the community.
Here is the WA State guidance on cyanotoxins…..
Washington State Department of Health has developed guidelines for microcystins, anatoxin-a, cylindrospermopsin, and saxitoxin for those who manage recreational water bodies. The recommended recreational guidance values for those four cyanotoxins are 8 μg/L, 1 μg/L, 15 μg/L, and 75 μg/L, respectively.
HERE IS WHAT YOU WROTE IN THIS REPORT….
“Detections of cyanotoxins are below state recreation guidelines.”
SO….WHICH CYANOTOXIN HAVE YOU DETECTED, AND WHAT MEASUREMENT DID YOU FIND?
PLEASE LET US KNOW…..?
Waughop Lake treatments were not successful at reducing toxic algae blooms. The chartreuse color of the water now evident in Waughop Lake is imparted by a prolific cyanobacteria (Synechocystis) bloom. This species of cyanobacteria can be toxic so the question asked by Eric Chandler is legitimate, relevant and needs to be answered by the City of Lakewood, the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, and Ecology who approve these treatments.
The only success of these TetraTech prescribed alum treatments accrued in the form of ample compensation to TetraTech and the applicator whose combined actions have resulted in the aluminum, sulfate, sodium, and sulfide ion pollution of Waughop Lake.
If this treatment has to be performed again and again – wouldn’t it be more economical and ecological to dredge the lake and be done with the waste sediments? If you have to deal with the same issue in your home over and over again – wouldn’t you go for the long-term solution that might be expensive at first but save you dealing with it in the long run? Just curious …
Success? Take a close look at the photo provided for this article. Not a bird in sight. It’s depressing to see the plackard posted at the lake indicating all the water birds that can be viewed. They used to be there in abundance but since the chemical treatments none of them are there anymore. No nesting ducks. No Audobon groups with their spotting scopes to view the birds. No children amazed by the baby ducks in the Spring. No birds, no turtles, no frogs. Just a dead body of water. This result is not what I would consider a success.
Mr. Mayor,
The nearly complete annihilation of wildlife and fish which used to populate Waughop Lake is at odds with the City’s statement. While it’s not a surprise that the City is reluctant to admit past failures in its efforts to preserve the lake, it’s not in keeping with best government practices to double down on a bad strategy.
I am willing to bet that you will not find many (if any) longtime regular Fort Steilacoom Park users who support and appreciate the City’s approach to restoration of Waughop Lake. This alone should give you pause for concern. But when you factor in the significant data and research done by the lake’s volunteers who have monitored water quality for decades, it’s obvious that you’re intentionally ignoring the facts. That’s just sad. So please, take a step back, gather stakeholders together, and work toward a sustainable future for Waughop Lake.
Mr Hall’s last paragraph is absolutley CORRECT….if you do not believe that is so, take a look at the 30 responses to Mr McClellan’s letter to The Suburban Times….
https://thesubtimes.com/2025/03/13/letter-how-the-city-of-lakewood-killed-waughop-lake-and-what-to-do-about-it-now/#comments
All of the citizen responses FIRMLY SUPPORT his letter and admonishes the City of Lakewood’s allowing the destruction of this lake.
Thank You Very Much Paul Bucich (now working for the City of Sequim), as well as Lakewood’s City Manager, Mayor, and City Council…..you’ve done a really good job of killing Waughop.
“The surgery was a success (even though the patient died).”
If Steilacoom Park is the City of Lakewood’s crown jewel, the bile green water and lifeless shoreline of Waughop Lake is the parks cesspool. Your stewardship skills are irresponsible and careless based on confounded rationale and action. Stop with the wasteful spending and treatment of this poor waterbody. What you’re doing is BAD science!