What's the Matter with Lake Whatcom?

According to a Washington Department of Ecology study, the city of Bellingham and Whatcom County will need to take drastic action to preserve the health of this water supply to meet state and federal water quality standards. The state study, written by two authors, one from Bellingham and one from Lacey, says the community must reduce the impact of land development around Lake Whatcom by 86 percent. So far as public water supplies are concerned, a directive of this severity seems to be without precedent in the state.

Click here for the website of the Lake Whatcom Water Quality Improvement Project (Also known as Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL).

Click here to see the focus sheet from the Washington Department of Ecology.  (This is an Adobe PDF.  If you do not have Adobe Reader on your computer, click here to download.)

Bellingham's City Club held a panel discussion with Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen, Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike and Steve Hood from the Department of Ecology on August 27 at the Northwood Hall.  Here's a look at what was said: