Proposed Lake Whatcom Phosphorous Ban

It has long been conventional wisdom that people pollute public water sources. Lake Whatcom is the only major water source in our region where people are allowed to live not only in its watershed, but to live on its shores. The city of Bellingham and environmentally minded individuals took the lead on major issues, but nothing really significant was achieved. Then, like a bolt from the blue, the County Council, with great political courage, proposed a moratorium on new home construction in the Lake Whatcom watershed. The Building Industry Association was ready with attack ads and packed the next County Council meeting. It lasted until 11 p.m. but the moratorium passed six-to-one.

The moratorium on building in the Lake Whatcom watershed will expire on May 1. Aside from its short life, there are other indications that the moratorium by itself is not adequate protection of our drinking water supply. One problem is the exemption of homes on five acres or more. That would encourage urban sprawl with added cost to furnish water lines and sewers. Even worse, it might encourage the use of septic tanks that would leak into Lake Whatcom. Taxpayers would be better off with homes closer together in planned communities.

On the positive side, it stimulated other officials to come forward with proposals. Most notable was the proposal by the heads of county, city and Water and Sewer District 10 to ban the use of phosphates. One of the main reasons to ban the use of phosphates in the Lake Whatcom watershed is that increased phosphate in Lake Whatcom would lead to increase in formation of organochloride carcinogens.

In his book, “Pandora’s Poison,” Joe Thornton states that in 1974, chemists discovered that chlorine in water containing organic matter reacted with the organic matter and produced organochlorides. A large number of the organochlorides are carcinogenic in laboratory animals.

The most serious of the carcinogens is called MX, short for the 40 letter chemical name. It is produced in very small amounts, but never the less it is so toxic it was responsible for cancer in one-third to one-half of all laboratory animals tested. The city of Bellingham has found carcinogens in Bellingham tap water that it said were formed by chlorine reacting with organic matter. But has Bellingham tap water been tested for MX? In any case it will be found if organic matter is allowed to increase in Lake Whatcom.

The amount of chlorine and organochlorides in your drinking water depends on where you live. The city of Bellingham puts enough chlorine in the water so that in spite of depletion along the line as it reacts with organic matter, there is enough at the end of the line to kill infectious bacteria.

How much is that? A lot. Consider the reaction to lichens at my house. Most lichens are small plants, and moreover, many have similar look-alikes. Hence, chemical “spot tests” are made to test for differences. For the “C” test, the recommended reagent is full strength Clorox. I found that city water fresh out of my tap worked marginally as well. Hence, I began using distilled water where water was needed.

Some 85,000 people get their tap water from Lake Whatcom and that number in all probability will grow significantly as the population of Bellingham and vicinity grows.

Phosphate stimulates the growth of organic matter in the lake, and organic matter is very difficult to remove from water entering the city water systems. As more and more organic matter enters the city water system, more and more chlorine must be used to kill infectious bacteria, and more and more carcinogenic organochlorides will be in users’ tap water. That’s the reason it is so important to keep as much phosphorous as possible out of Lake Whatcom. Storm water control never has succeeded. The only way to stop phosphates from entering the lake is to stop using them in the watershed.

Most of the phosphate used by residents in the Lake Whatcom Watershed is in fertilizers placed on lawns and gardens. Fertilizers with a high content of nitrogen make green lawns. Now there is an environmental friendly lawn fertilizer, the “Lake Whatcom Blend” fertilizer with no phosphate. It is available at Cenex Farmer’s Coop on Meridian Street in Bellingham.

But will some residents choose to use a cheaper grade of fertilizer that contains phosphate? Some people object to the phosphate ban because they say it is unenforceable. I don’t agree with that. Of course allocation of funds for enforcement and a penalty for violation would be required. “Parking strips” and street-side ditches are public property even though residents maintain them. Thus some investigation of violators could be done without trespassing or a search warrant.

On the whole, a ban on phosphates has my support. §