The Daily World Online: News Article Citizens confront council on polluted waterways - July 28, 1998
By JEFF BURLINGAME - DAILY WORLD WRITER
OCEAN SHORES - A vocal group of Ocean Shores residents, disturbed over some "very serious contamination" in their city's fresh-water sources, has challenged city officials to begin cleanup immediately.
Monday night, the group, aptly dubbed "Fresh Waterways," handed the City Council a petition signed by 450 residents calling for action to be taken on three fresh-water sources: Bass Canal, Clover Creek and Lake Minard.
Pollutants from the three areas - which are in various stages of decay - could eventually affect the city's drinking water, recreational opportunities and economy, the group says
Mike Valdez, an Ocean Shores attorney representing Fresh Waterways, says the city balked on its promise to begin clean-up work by Jan. 1, 1997.
"In June of 1996, the council passed a resolution funding the three projects," Valdez said. "Eighteen months have passed and we haven't made any reasonable progress."
City Manager Jack McKenzie says the city has never stopped looking for a solution, but added that bids came in way over the $750,000 appropriated by the city.
"When bids came in too high, another way had to be found," McKenzie explained. "So we started looking around (for other options)."
The most critical problem lies in centrally-located Bass Canal, which is "weed-choked" and in dire need of dredging, the group says.
"It is so thick and deplorable that ducks can't swim through it," said Ed Lilley Sr., who lives on Bass Canal. "I can't put a broom down any further than this," he added, holding his hands apart 12 inches
"If I was ready to sell - I'm not - you couldn't bring a buyer down and expect him to make any kind of a reasonable offer," Lilley added. "For goodness sake, please do something, because it's in horrible, horrible condition."
A majority of the pollution is due to the over-grown weeds, murky water and stagnation, according to the group.Resident Jim Jackson, who also lives on Bass Canal, said he put his house on the market last week because of the problem. He added that he can't see down into the canal more than six inches, because of the weeds and dirty water.
Residents say they are already seeing the pollutants spread to Duck Lake - the city's largest lake - which is fed by Bass Canal
"I've been monitoring Duck Lake for three years," said Ed Marchbank, publicity officer for Fresh Waterways. "Now you can only see down 1 1/2 feet. That's the (shallowest) in the years we've been monitoring it."
One of the groups specific beefs lies with the city's "Vision Statement." Valdez says Fresh Waterways has dropped from third to eighth in priority on that list of "to-do" projects.
Councilmember Jerry Likness explained that the Vision Statement is not in any particular order.
"Our Vision Statement is not a priority list," Likness said. "It doesn't make any difference where you're located; we're working on all of them. It's just so things don't get lost in the shuffle. And Fresh Waterways will never get lost in the shuffle.
The city manager says solutions are currently being sought for Bass Canal's pollution problem. One possibility would consist of installing aerators in the canal to circulate the water
"Science says if we introduce enough oxygen to Bass Canal, it will clean itself," McKenzie said. "If oxygenation works, (we could) have Bass Canal clean within a year."
Councilmember Likness added that "65-70 percent" of the freshwater pollution will disappear when the entire city becomes sewered in 1999.
Resident Jim Donahoe said some better communication between the city and Fresh Waterways would go a long way toward solving the problems.
At Donahoe's prompting, Councilmember Harriette Hodgson suggested a liaison be appointed by the council to attend Fresh Waterways meetings and/or a representative from the group be assigned to update the council regularly
"In no way have we felt that fresh water was not an important issue," Hodgson said. "It has always seemed to this council that every time we talk about sewering, we're talking about fresh-waterways. We're all working together on this."