Lake Whatcom Gets Political

Acid Tide

An Icy Passage

The Next Big One

Laden With Lead

The Lakes Next Door

Water For The Islands

Going Green With Grey

Dear Reader,

Statistically, water is a huge part of our lives. It covers about 70 percent of our planet and makes up as much as 60 percent of our bodies. We use water to drink and to grow our food, for transportation and for recreation. But the amount of time I spend thinking about water ¯ at least on days when I don’t have to walk to school in the rain ¯ is next to nothing.

This fall, The Planet’s pages are dripping with stories examining how we interact with H2O, from our own faucets to the frozen expanses of the Arctic.

On Western’s campus, we found a push to eliminate lead hazards from sinks and drinking fountains. In Whatcom County, we found a battle emerging over the fate of an 8,000-acre piece of the Lake Whatcom watershed. At the heart of the debate is contamination in Lake Whatcom, the source of drinking water for more than 80,000 people. Up and down the Washington coast, we found residents and communities making plans for their water. This July, Washington’s new rule for building greywater recycling systems went into effect, providing a new way to reduce water consumption and save money. Coastal communities are preparing their residents for the possibility of a tsunami striking this side of the Pacific. Development of desalination technology is allowing the growing population of the San Juan Islands to pull drinking water right out of the sea.

We also found global water issues. Ocean acidity is on the rise due to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the effects are already visible at a local shellfish farm. And in the Arctic, sea ice is melting, which creates the possibility for human influence to expand into a previously untouched landscape. Water is universal. Every living thing on the planet needs water to survive. Yet to many of us, water is something we take for granted, especially here in the rainy Pacific Northwest. As you read this issue of The Planet, think about where our water comes from, and where it goes after it runs down our drains. And think about how our actions impact the waters of the world.

Thanks for reading, and we welcome your feedback, questions and comments via email, letters, phone calls or just plain conversation. Keep ebbin’ and flowin’,

The Planet Staff. Get at Us.

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CLASS DESCRIPTION

The Planet is a publication class offered through the Environmental Studies department of Western Washington University. It combines the environmental focus of Western’s Huxley College of the Environment with the writing and reporting skills taught in the journalism department to produce a quarterly environmental magazine.

Both writers and photographers are welcome to register for the class. Writers complete one feature article over the course of the quarter, and are encouraged to choose engaging environmental topics related to Western or the Pacific Northwest. Photographers generally shoot for two or three different articles.

The class is advised by Dr. Rebekah Green.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Planet is dedicated to environmental advocacy and awareness through responsible journalism.

HOW TO REGISTER

The Planet class is listed under the Environmental Studies category in Western’s online registration catalog. Students interested in writing or photographing for the magazine should register for ESTU 480. Editors should register for ESTU 482.

Writers and photographers receive 3 credits for the course.

Editors receive 4 credits for the course.

UNDAMMED: THE ELWHA RIVER STORY

GATO VERDE: GOING GREEN ON THE BIG BLUE

UNDAMMED: The Elwha River Story

GATO VERDE: Going Green on the Big Blue

The lake serves as a drinking water source for more than 80,000 people in Whatcom County, yet portions of the lake are labeled as category 5 polluted water bodies by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Since the official recognition of the pollution in 1998, lawmakers have tried to mitigate the problem through community outreach programs and strict land use regulations. But Lake Whatcom water quality continues to worsen, said the environmental resources manager for Bellingham Public Works, Clare Fogelsong.

Washington state owns approximately 15,000 acres of forested land in the Lake Whatcom watershed, and it is managed by the Department of Natural Resources under the 2004 Lake Whatcom Landscape Plan. Whatcom County and City of Bellingham representatives want to secure about 8,000 acres of the state-owned watershed land—an area equal to about 6,000 football fields—in a process known as an inter-trust land exchange and reconveyance. The inter-trust land exchange entails transferring the ownership and management responsibilities for more than half of the state-owned watershed lands to the Whatcom County Council, and then reconveying them for park purposes. In 2008, Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen and then-Commissioner of Public Lands, Doug Sutherland, signed a memorandum of agreement between the county and department of natural resources. The agreement spelled out specific steps that needed to be taken to achieve the land exchange and reconveyance. According to the agreement, the Board of Natural Resources, which oversees the department of natural resources, must first vote on whether or not to conduct an intertrust land exchange, a consolidation of prospective park lands into two distinct blocks in the watershed.

Once a decision is reached, the county council must then vote to request the land be reconveyed for park purposes. The request is sent back to the board, which in turn votes on whether or not to approve the reconveyance. In a metaphorical ping-pong match between state and local governments, the matter continues to bounce back and forth between the agencies. During their Oct.10 meeting, the state board postponed their vote to approve the land exchange for a second time. The board asked that the county first request the land be reconveyed, essentially skipping the first step in the process and reneging on the 2008 agreement signed by the county and state.

Whatcom County Councilmember Ken Mann said the inter-trust land exchange and reconveyance would enable local governments to better protect Lake Whatcom water quality. He supports the proposal and said by reducing road construction, removing preexisting forest roads and creating a low-impact park for recreation, the county could ensure protection for the most vulnerable areas in the watershed.

"I believe we have a duty to support the reconveyance," Mann said. "There is a significant benefit that will accrue to the people of Whatcom County by having a safe, reliable and affordable drinking water supply." As state and local governments work through the motions of inter-trust land exchange, representatives of the timber industry question whether or not the proposal is cost-effective for taxpayers, or if it is the most practical means of protecting Lake Whatcom water.

"We´re being led to believe that Whatcom County can do a better job of managing timber land than state managers with professional foresters on staff," said Gerry Millman, president of Great Western Lumber in Bellingham. Millman explained that the department of natural resources supervises millions of acres of land. He said the department is equipped with the experience, staff and know-how to ensure sustainable forest practices and a solid stream of timber revenue - Whatcom County is not.

Tom Westerdreen, the resource manager for Great Western Lumber, said the Lake Whatcom Landscape Plan puts strict regulations on timber harvest in the state-owned portions of the watershed. These regulations help minimize the impacts of logging on water quality, he said. For more than a century, the Lake Whatcom watershed has been harvested for timber, and at one time there was a large-scale sawmill on the lakeshore.

Westerdreen said the water quality issues are more recent, so it doesn´t make sense to blame the timber industry if the problems were not there 40 years ago.

Preventing timber harvest on 8,000 acres of timberland could have drastic economic impacts, and Westerdreen said proponents of the land exchange and reconveyance have yet to account for them. Westerdreen said he supports the creation of a working forest where the land can be used for recreation and occasional timber harvests in accordance with the Lake Whatcom Landscape Plan.

Advocates of the land exchange and reconveyance contend that despite the regulations set forth by the Lake Whatcom Landscape Plan, timber harvest still has a devastating impact on Lake Whatcom water quality. When a storm occurs, the steep slopes of the phosphorus-rich watershed soil are prone to landslides, especially when impacted by clear cutting and logging roads, Fogelsong said. The soil displaced by a landslide feeds directly into the lake water or the tributaries that drain into the lake, releasing massive amounts of phosphorus into the water.

Phosphorus, the primary contaminant in Lake Whatcom, is a naturally occurring and prevalent nutrient in Lake Whatcom watershed soils, Fogelsong said. Excess nutrients, such as phosphorus, result in algal blooms and lower dissolved oxygen levels in the lake when the algae die and decay, he said.

The last heavy storm occurred in the winter of 2009, and it resulted in severe landslides and a huge sediment load was released into the lake. Fogelsong said an algal bloom the following summer was so severe that the algae in the water clogged the filters in the drinking water plant, and resulted in a water alert because the treatment plant could not keep up with normal demand.

"When we see huge sediment loads like we did in 2009, some of the landslides can be accounted for by natural conditions," Fogelsong said. "But I have a hard time accepting that all of the sediment load was natural and not a consequence of logging practices in that area."

The inter-trust land exchange and reconveyance would protect the steepest slopes in the watershed from the impacts of logging roads and timber harvest, Fogelsong said. Still, timber industry representatives refute the belief that logging practices in the watershed impair water quality.

"The department of ecology and department of health have gone on record to say forest practices under the Lake Whatcom Landscape Plan are not the problem behind the quality of water in the lake," Westerdreen said. "It’s failing septic systems and development where the [pollution] is coming from, so to me targeting the timber land is an excuse, and the government isn´t looking at the real problem."

Fogelsong said he agrees that the majority of pollution from the urban portion of the watershed stems from stormwater runoff created by development. He said it is true that much of the watershed land within Bellingham city limits is dominated by residential development.

Fogelsong said the proposed land reconveyance would not alleviate the pollution caused by watershed land owners, but it could have a positive impact on Lake Whatcom water quality. The reconveyance would reduce timber lands, and therefore the land disturbance that results from logging practices.

The conflict lies in the tension between protecting the drinking water source of more than 80,000 people in Whatcom County, and lawmakers focused on maintaining the economic integrity of state-owned forest lands. Turn on a faucet, and know that the clear water is not as transparent as it seems.

In 2008, oyster larvae production at Taylor Shellfish Farms´ Dabob Bay Hatchery dropped by 60 percent from the average of past years. In 2009, that figure increased to 80 percent. The shellfish farmers could not see the corrosive danger causing this decline, only the harm it caused. The culprit: ocean acidification.

The oceans absorb about one-third of the carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, said Brooke Love, assistant researcher at Western´s Shannon Point Marine Center. Human use of fossil fuels is releasing more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In turn, the ocean absorbs more and more of the gas. This changes the water´s chemistry, making it more difficult for oysters, corals, plankton and other marine organisms to form their calcium carbonate shell.

Some marine organisms build their shells using carbonate found in the ocean. When the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide, the water´s chemistry changes, Love said. One result of this is less carbonate in the water.

Deeper water tends to be more acidic than water closer to the surface. This is in part because photosynthesizing organisms called phytoplankton that live in surface waters and consume carbon dioxide as they grow. Some sink to deep water when they die, where they release carbon dioxide as they decompose. This deeper, more corrosive water can move towards the surface over time, Love said. Among West Coast species of shellfish commercially harvested, ocean acidification hits the Pacific oysters the hardest, said Bill Dewey, director of public policy communications for Taylor Shellfish Farms.

Shellfish grow in hatcheries, where shellfish farmers create the ideal mating environment in tanks, Dewey said. Water travels through tubes from outside water sources. If this water is more acidic, it could be deadly.

He said for the first two to three days of the oyster´s life, its shell is extremely fragile. Corrosive water can dissolve the shell faster than it forms. For another 15 to 21 days, the shell is stronger, but still weak, he said. At that point, the organisms begin building their shells with a more resistant form of calcium carbonate.

He said the lack of successful oyster larvae has dropped West Coast oyster production by about 20 percent over the last six years. Each year, Washington´s shellfish industry brings in $110 million, Dewey said. About 80 percent is from oysters.

Dewey said the five Samish Bay shellfish companies collectively sell $3.5 million worth of shellfish a year.

The oyster deaths in 2008 and 2009 occurred at Taylor´s Dabob Bay hatchery, located on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula. The larvae failed to make it through their weak shell stage, Dewey said.

In 2008, Richard Feely, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior fellow, presented research on ocean acidification at the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association´s annual conference, which Taylor attended with other Pacific Northwest shellfish farmers. Feely is currently researching levels of ocean acidification along the Washington coast and in Puget Sound. He said there was an abrupt change in the chemistry of the water along the West Coast sometime between 10 and 15 years ago. His collaborative research found the more acidic water of the open ocean was pushed to the bottom of the continental shelf.

To combat this issue, Sen. Maria Cantwell secured an appropriation in the 2010 budget to help the shellfish industry adapt to the water´s changing corrosive chemistry, Dewey said. The appropriation pays for monitoring equipment and for associated human labor to monitor the water.

Dewey said Taylor Shellfish Farms installed seawater-monitoring equipment in Dabob Bay. Now employees can observe carbon dioxide levels in real time. They also installed a pH monitor to read the water´s acidity.

Monitors are located at two depths, Dewey said. Over the last two years, the acidity and carbon dioxide levels at 30 feet below the water´s surface are where they should be, allowing oysters to grow. However, 100 feet down the water is too corrosive for oysters to survive.

The monitoring equipment consists of remote sensors that allow Taylor employees to predict when more acidic water will reach the farm. With this information, they can avoid pumping corrosive water into the hatchery, Dewey said. Feely said the equipment is saving the shellfish industry. The farm has even produced record quantities of oyster larvae over the past two years. This is also due in part to a lack of strong north winds during the past two summers, which would bring more corrosive waters closer to the surface, Dewey said. But, as the ocean’s acidity rises, not everything is doomed in more corrosive waters, Love said. "Some organisms that might benefit, like jellyfish, are considered undesirable by many. Other potential winners, like eelgrass, are important and desirable," Love said. Love said fluctuations in the ocean´s acidity have likely occurred in the past. The fossil record preserved periods with fewer shelled organisms. The difference between the past and present is the rate carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere. "It´s happening faster now than it probably has ever before," Love said.

Arctic sea ice is melting. Much of the Arctic is covered by frigid water laden with sea ice. But the patchwork of black water and white ice that lies north of the Arctic Circle is changing. The summer season is lengthening and expanses of water are growing between intermittent chunks of ice.

The future of the Arctic is uncertain: industry is expanding and the state of the natural world is shifting. The extent of sea ice melt is an indicator of climate change, according to a report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program. It also opens Arctic waterways for easier shipping and natural resource excavation.

As sea ice melts, bright white areas become dark ocean, and the sunlight that was formerly reflected back into space is instead absorbed by the darker surface, said Andy Bunn, an environmental science professor at Western Washington University. This causes the ocean to heat up and accelerates warming in the Arctic. The same effect is in play when you choose a white shirt over a black shirt on a hot day-the white keeps you cooler.

Arctic temperatures are increasing at nearly two times the rate of the rest of the world, according to Pew Environment Group.

"[The Arctic] will become ice-free sooner than what the models forecast–maybe in the next 20 or 30 years, instead of the next, say, 50 years," said Julienne Stroeve, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., referring to late summer sea ice cover.

Sea ice cover changes seasonally, with the greatest amount in March and the least in September. Less sea ice in the summer allows easier access to the continental shelves that loom beneath the ocean´s surface. The shelves hold an estimated 400 fields of fossil fuels, according to the Russian Geographical Society.

And Russia is already exploring and extracting fuels from Arctic reserves. Rosneft, Russia´s predominately state-owned energy company, has partnered with ExxonMobil to explore and drill in the Kara Sea off the northwest coast of Siberia, according to a Rosneft press release. A drilling platform on the Pechora Sea, which lies to the north of Western Russia, is among the largest in the world for extracting oil, said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a speech at the Second International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk.

Already, the world gets one-tenth of its oil and one-fourth of its natural gas from the Arctic, according to the Russian Geographical Society.

Dr. Lawson Brigham, professor of geography and Arctic policy at University of Alaska Fairbanks, said expansion of industry would occur even if the ice was not melting because most drilling operations are conducted during the summer.

"I believe the marine traffic buildup has very little to do with Arctic sea ice retreat," he said in an email. "It is really all about global economics and the economic connection of the Arctic to the planet due to Arctic natural resource development."

If companies decide to lengthen their drilling season, icebreaker support fleets may be necessary, Brigham said.

Massive icebreaker vessels escort most ships undertaking Arctic travel. Vessels classified as heavy can ram through ice 20 feet thick, according to a report on the U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker Fleet. Currently, 40 icebreakers are in use worldwide, three of which belong to the U.S. Coast Guard to conduct research expeditions.

Russia is allocating more than $1.2 billion towards advancing its Arctic operations, including establishing infrastructure and beefing up its icebreaker fleet, Putin said in his speech at the forum. The country plans to add six diesel-electric and three nuclear vessels by 2020. The Arctic is also valuable for its shipping potential.

"We are planning to turn [the Northern Sea Route] into a key commercial route of global importance," Putin said in his speech at the forum.

The Northern Sea Route extends from Novaya Zemlya on the Kara Sea to the Bering Strait. From Europe to the Asian Pacific, this route is up to 40 percent shorter than the alternates through the Suez or Panama canals, according to the International Northern Sea Route Programme. Scorpio Shipping Management has conducted one trip using the Northern Sea Route with the STI Heritage tanker. Carrying gas condensate from Vitino, Russia to Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the STI Heritage crossed the Northeast Passage in eight days.

Captain Ashley Cooper, Scorpio´s marine manager, said the trip saved about 10 to 12 days compared to shipping through the Suez Canal. Cooper said the Arctic route is considerably less expensive-the shorter route brings down the cost of fuel, and avoids Suez Canal fees and the threat of pirates.

He said increased use of the Northern Sea Route relies on Russia´s expansion of its ice-ready resources, including availability of ice breakers and ice advisors. Ice advisors are people with extensive knowledge of Arctic waters who can pick out the safest route on a trip. They know how to avoid thick ice even icebreakers cannot get through, said Cameron Mackie, Scorpio Group´s chief of operations. These experts are also crucial for navigation.

"Most traditional navigational tools aren´t reliable in high latitudes," Mackie said. "GPS is not reliable because the angle of satellites is so low. Magnetic and gyroscopic compasses don´t work"

Specialized ice-ready ships with a double hull are essential to use of the Northern Sea Route, Mackie said. This, combined with the need for ice advisors and ice breaker escort, makes using the route more expensive.

A host of other obstacles further impede Arctic operations. Northern port towns, roads and railroad tracks must be built to accommodate industry, according to the Russian Geographical Society.

"Major development in the arctic is tricky. It´s very cold and it´s dark and it´s hard, and it´s very expensive. The carrot has to be pretty big to deal with the stick of the arctic," Bunn said.

Global climate change exacerbates the difficulty. "It´s a challenge to build big seaports especially [in] regions like coastal Alaska or coastal Canada," Stroeve said. "The fact that permafrost is thawing-you have entire coastlines that are eroding into the sea."

The minimal commercial use of the Arctic has allowed its ecosystem to thrive. But in the same way that fishing, shipping and drilling have adversely impacted wildlife in the rest of the world, expansion of this industry in the North may have the same effect.

A particular threat posed by fossil fuel excavation is the potential for oil spills. "It could be completely devastating up there. We don´t have any infrastructure in place that could even handle an oil spill like [the Deepwater Horizon spill], not to mention how difficult it would be to try to clean it up," Stroeve said.

An intergovernmental forum called the Arctic Council was created to take a multilateral approach to improving operations in the Arctic.

Since its inception in 1996, the Arctic Council has acted as a means for dialogue between groups concerned with the Arctic, focusing on environmental protection and sustainable

development of resources. The council consists of the eight Arctic states, including the United States and Canada. Also involved are six international organizations representing indigenous Arctic peoples.

"The price of a negligent, careless attitude towards the Arctic is very high and the consequences disastrous," Putin said in his speech at the forum.

As Arctic waters become more navigable and human use of the Arctic grows, the future of the North remains unknown.

As the ground shook for nearly three minutes, University of Washington geology professor Jody Bourgeious sat at her desk fascinated. This 9.0 magnitude earthquake was the trigger of the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011.

Bourgeious was up all night—watching live news coverage, getting recent updates from seismologists and taking in the unfolding frenzy.

"It didn´t hit me hard until Sunday, two days after the initial earthquake and tsunami," Bourgeious said. "These were towns I had been to and people I had met." The Japanese have a history with earthquakes and tsunamis, she said. Many people in Japan survived because they were prepared for the disaster.

Washington´s coastal communities are not as prepared as Japan for a tsunami, she said, but in the past 10 years communities have increased their knowledge and awareness.

When a disaster of this nature hits, education and planning are incredibly important, Bourgeious said. Understanding a tsunami is key.

If a tsunami were to strike the Washington coast, chances are Bellingham would be relatively safe, cushioned in a bay and protected by the San Juan Islands, said Pete Stelling, assistant geology professor at Western Washington University.

However, the Lummi Peninsula, 25 minutes northwest of Bellingham, is potentially in harms way because there is a lot of land at or near sea level. If a tsunami were to make it through the network of islands, it could overwhelm those low-lying areas, he said.

A tsunami is a wave generated by mechanical movement, which is caused by displaced land created by an earthquake, landslide or volcanic eruption, Stelling said.

A tsunami differs from a typical wind wave because the whole water column moves up and down, rather than just the top few meters. This creates very broad, small and fast moving waves on the surface of the water, he said.

When a tsunami is moving in the deep ocean it can move as fast as 500 mph, but as it makes its way to the shore it slows down to about 30 mph, Stelling said. Once the water has slowed down it begins piling up and getting taller.

"The big hazard with tsunamis is that once the water breaks shore it doesn´t stop," Stelling said. "The water can continue moving inland for miles in some cases."

The Cascadia Subduction Zone, which lies less than 70 miles west of the Washington coast could generate the next big tsunami, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology´s website.

The Juan de Fuca plate is sinking under the North American plate in a process called subduction. Subduction occurs when one plate slides underneath the other and merges into the Earth´s mantle layer, according to the department of ecology´s website.

During this process the plates shift as one plate is pressed into the other, and stress eventually builds up, causing a break. This break causes a sudden slip and initiates a subduction zone earthquake. An earthquake of a magnitude seven or higher could trigger a tsunami along the coast, according to the department of ecology´s website.

It would be easy to get to high ground in Bellingham if the Cascadia Subduction Zone triggered a tsunami, said Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, associate geology professor at Western. The earthquake would be the city´s warning that a tsunami may follow, and allow ample time for residents to get to a safe spot before the waves started rolling in.

If it is difficult to stand during an earthquake along the Washington coast, a tsunami might follow, Stelling said. In that type of situation, getting to high ground as soon as possible is best.

Communities along the coast, such as Ocean Shores and Long Beach, are in a tsunami danger zone. The close proximity to the coast gives these towns about a 15 minute warning time before waves start crashing in, Stelling said.

These costal communities are taking steps in preparation for a tsunami in Washington.

Tsunami Ready, a program through the National Weather Service, helps communities prepare for tsunamis. The program helps cities create evacuation routes, prepare meeting locations, spread awareness and educate community members.

Washington has 12 Tsunami Ready sites that include four counties, six cities, one American Indian nation and one American Indian tribe. Although the Lummi Nation is not one of those 12 tsunami ready sites, the tribe has taken on the responsibility of raising awareness in its community.

In 2007 the Lummi Nation received an Emergency Management Preparedness and Assistance grant from the Washington state government to install evacuation signs and broadcast towers.

The broadcast alert towers are placed in areas where people most likely to be affected by a tsunami will hear them, said Monika Lange, natural resources analyst for the Lummi Nation.

Emergency managers test the towers each week to prepare citizens for an emergency situation, she said. The towers broadcast announcements or sirens to alert the public of incoming tsunamis.

Lange said she and others doing tsunami outreach have been pleasantly surprised by how engaged and obviously informed people are about tsunamis.

There is no telling when the next tsunami may strike the Washington coast but having the knowledge and skills to withstand a tsunami can minimize risk and devastation.

Before the water from Lake Whatcom, the main source of Bellingham´s drinking water, flows from the faucets of Bellingham, parasites, iron, manganese and algae can be found in it. Because of this, the city has spent roughly $3.6 million in each of the past two years to treat the drinking water that flows from kitchen sinks and hallway fountains, said Peg Wendling, a technical supervisor for City of Bellingham Public Works.

While this treatment process helps keep drinking water in Bellingham exemplary, traces of lead in piping and faucets can contaminate water after the treatment process. This has affected Western Washington University and has led to a project that will replace sink fixtures with high levels of lead on Western´s campus, said Gayle Shipley, director of Western’s Environmental Health and Safety department.

On Western´s campus, buildings such as Old Main have certain sinks and fountains with signs to notify whether the water is above or below the maximum lead level for drinking water, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

To address this issue, Western has received $75,000 from the state Legislature as part of a minor works preservation project to replace sink fixtures with high levels of lead. The project will soon replace roughly 60 sinks and water fountains in various buildings on Western´s campus, Shipley said.

The project will not replace entire pipe systems, but will attempt to fix any problem areas, she said.

Shipley said it is not recommended to use the water in bathrooms for drinking because bathrooms can contain high levels of bacteria and viral contamination. She said bathroom sinks will not be replaced as part of the project because most people use the water in the bathrooms for cleaning, not drinking.

Water sources containing lead usually come from buildings built before the 1980´s because lead was used in solder, a metal used to join other metals. Lead solder was banned in the 1970´s, said Mark Lorenz of Avocet Environmental Testing in Bellingham.

The testing process for potentially contaminated water begins by letting the source sit unused overnight, Lorenz said. In the morning, water from the source is collected for testing. While a single sample might be collected from a home, smaller samples from various locations are collected at schools, he said.

"This gives a good representation of the pipe system in schools," Lorenz said. "It helps pinpoint the problem areas."

High levels of lead may affect a person’s health, Lorenz said.

According to a publication by the Washington State Department of Health titled "Lead in Drinking Water," long term exposures to even low levels of lead can cause impaired hearing, vision and muscle coordination. It is also toxic to the blood, kidney, heart and reproductive system.

According to Western´s Environmental Health and Safety website, lead exposure from fountains is low because drinking water is a small part of most people’s overall water consumption. While it may appear that lead is not much of a threat, some disagree.

"Lead is toxic." Lorenz said. "Ideally you'd have none of it."

With action being taken to lower lead levels in Western’s drinking water and the efforts by the city to treat its drinking water properly, Shipley said Western´s water will hopefully improve.

Fragrance Lake

Hikers must trek for 1.9 miles under a coniferous forest canopy to the lake. The trail is filled with many brief switchbacks. James Way, a political science major at Western Washington University said he finds the short hike a rewarding one. “Making your way through the forested trail and finding Fragrance at the end is breathtaking," Way said. "Seeing all the trees mirrored on the surface of the water is awe inspiring." Trees surround the edge of Fragrance, some branches hanging so low they skim the surface as if drinking up the fresh water and sunlight that glimmers there.

Lake Padden

On the edge of Lake Padden, stands 28-year-old Kelly Bird, a triathlete, outfitted in a slim black wetsuit. Bird has been a part of over 20 triathlons. She runs, swims and plays with her dog all at Padden. Bird swims regularly from late spring into early fall. She said that she likes to bike to Padden and swim for free with views of rolling tree covered hills all around her instead of paying to swim in a pool. "Swimming here I can get into such a relaxed mental state, it seems like I am effortlessly gliding on the surface," Bird said. "The water here feels so clean, not like mouthfuls of fuel like at a few other lakes I have swam in."

Lake Whatcom

Before Lake Whatcom became the source of Bellingham´s drinking water, the coal industry dominated the area surrounding the lake. In 1855 a coal seam was found at the southeast end of the lake. Coal was transported across the lake in rail cars towed on barges. In 1901 the north shore became integrated into the Bellingham Bay and Eastern Railroad Co. in order to accommodate the amount of coal that needed to be transported.

From logging and coal mining, to providing drinking water, Lake Whatcom has a multifaceted history that continues to grow. Part of the lake is solely dedicated to recreational and competitive water activities. Lakewood, a boathouse, lounge and dock at Lake Whatcom owned by Western allows students from Whatcom Community College, Northwest Indian College and Western to use the lake for canoeing, kayaking, row boating, windsurfing and sailing.

The nation of Tuvalu in the South Pacific Ocean, surrounded by nothing but vast expanses of water, is faced with the problem of not having enough of it to drink. Tuvalu’s groundwater has been rendered mostly undrinkable thanks to rising sea levels. This year a major drought has thrown the country into crisis-Tuvalu´s government recently declared a state of emergency due to water shortages. Tuvalu and other tiny island nations such as Samoa and Tonga are resorting to drinking bottled water imported from other countries.

Several thousand miles across the ocean lie the San Juan Islands. The water situation there is not so dire, but the basic problem is the same-small islands with increasing populations, such as the San Juans, are having a difficult time providing enough safe drinking water for all their residents. Some island residents in the San Juans are using the process of desalination, getting safe drinking water from saltwater, to counter this.

On Lopez Island, one of the four main islands in the San Juans, the primary source of drinking water is dug wells, which draw up groundwater much as they did a hundred years ago. However, the islands are much more populated than they were a hundred years ago. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of San Juan County is nearly 16,000, up 12 percent from the year 2000.

Wayne Smith, a graduate of Western Washington University, has lived on Lopez Island for 25 years. He said he gets his water from one of the wells, which serves his lot and almost 30 others. The area of Lopez he lives on, Cape St. Mary, is relatively well-serviced by water wells.

But many island residents aren´t so lucky.

"There are some [rainwater] catchment systems that have been improved by the county, but there are places on the island that simply do not have water available," he said.

The problem with water wells on both Tuvalu and the San Juans is overuse. These wells draw water out of aquifers-permeable layers of rock in the ground. If high amounts of water are pumped out of an aquifer before it can be refilled by rainwater, the well can run dry.

Due to the geography of small islands, wells like those on the San Juans must be located near the coastline. So when the aquifers begin to run dry, wells draw in undrinkable seawater. Water shortages have been a problem on the San Juans during the past 10 years. The Washington Water Science Center conducted a study of precipitation and water use in 2007, and found that groundwater from wells was often not sufficient. The study prompted San Juan County and Washington state to allow many island residents to install catchment systems to capture rainwater for use as drinking water.

Catchment systems are generally used to supplement water from wells, not to replace them. But these systems do not provide much water during summer months when rainfall is limited. The limitations of both catchment systems and water wells mean these sources alone often don’t provide enough drinking water for islanders.

"There´s talks about wetlands and water usage, it goes on and on and on," Smith said. "Obviously it’s a major concern for residents."

One possible answer to this concern is new development of an old technology-desalination. While not yet widely used in Washington, places struggling with drinking water issues, such as California and Florida, are increasingly turning to desalination.

Desalination is also being introduced to island nations such as Tuvalu, which just received a desalination plant with money from UNICEF.

Andrew Evers´ company, Watec, provides desalination systems across Washington state, including the San Juan Islands. He said he has also done work in Mexico and Australia, and is looking at projects in Hawaii, Bangladesh and Cape Verde.

"Our plants are considered extremely small," Evers said. "We call them micro-desalination plants. Some can have two connections some can have 120 or more."

Each connection to a desalination plant serves one house.

Evers said his plants can process up to 30,000 gallons of water a day. According to the United States Geological Survey website, the average American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water daily.

There are two methods of desalination. The oldest is through distillation, the process of heating saltwater so that only the water molecules vaporize, leaving the salt behind. The more modern method, and the primary one used in the United States, is reverse osmosis.

During reverse osmosis, pressure is applied to push water through a series of semi-permeable membranes. The water molecules move through these membranes easily, but the slightly larger salt molecules do not, producing drinkable water.

The leftover salty water is sent back into the ocean, using nozzles and hoses to blend it in with the seawater. Evers said with small plants like the ones he produces, the water mixes in quickly. He said this process is not considered harmful to water quality or aquatic life.

One of the major drawbacks to reverse-osmosis is poor cost-effectiveness. It is still less costly to pump well water than to install a reverse osmosis plant, but Evers said prices are coming down.

He said a cubic meter of water–enough to fill more than seven average bathtubs-can be produced with about 1.5 kilowatts of electricity at rates of about seven cents per kilowatt. An average household light bulb, rated at 60 watts, will consume .06 kilowatts of electricity when used for one hour.

"We´re almost to the point where it costs the same as typical drinking water," Evers said.

However, it is also expensive and time-consuming to install a new plant. The process to obtain a permit for a new plant costs about $100,000 and takes about three years, Evers said. The San Juans are beginning to embrace this technology. According to a 2009 study by San Juan County, there were 12 desalination plants using reverse osmosis in use in the San Juans that year. Three more are in use in Washington state: on Eliza Island in Whatcom County, Guemes Island in Skagit County, and Hat Island in Snohomish County.

At the time of the San Juan County study, 410 households in the San Juans were served by these plants, about 6 percent of the population.

But as the science of desalination develops, the technology will spread, Evers said-something that would be good news for Tuvalu, the San Juan Islands, and many other places with drinking water problems.

"You’re seeing more and more desalination in the developing world," he said. "It´s always been too costly before, but the costs have been coming down more and more. It´s a technology that the advances are going to be quite significant in, in the next 10 to 15 years."

Water evaporates from the ocean, condenses and rains over land, and makes its way back into the ocean. This is a perfect cyclical event, and Bellingham resident Dan Welch said this natural process shouldn´t be broken, which is why he wants to recycle his greywater.

Greywater makes up the largest portion of wastewater from a person´s home, according to the Washington State Department of Health. Mark Buehrer, a professional civil engineer and founder of 2020 Engineering, Inc., said up to 40 percent of water people use gets flushed down the toilet, and the remaining 60 percent of water inside a home is greywater. A greywater system can recycle that water, which allows a person to lower his or her water consumption.

Greywater is divided into two categories: light and dark. Light greywater is water from bathroom sinks, showers and laundry, said Buehrer. Dark greywater, which contains more potential contaminants from food scraps, comes from kitchen sinks and dishwashers.

Water from toilets is called blackwater, which is a completely different category because it contains human waste, Buehrer said.

Laura Allen, founding member of Greywater Action, an organization based in California, said reusing greywater is a great way to save water. She said people can use the water from their washing machines, showers or sinks to irrigate their landscaping.

"You save water, you save money, you save all the energy and chemicals needed to treat the water at the sewer treatment plant," Allen said.

She also said people make better product choices because they see how their products impact the water and the environment.

Greywater systems built for irrigation were not practical or affordable to build in Washington state until the department of health created a new greywater rule, which became effective July 31, said Lynn Schneider, wastewater management specialist for the department. Schneider said the rule was crafted to protect public health and the environment, and to be cost effective.

The greywater rule states that greywater should only be used for outdoor subsurface irrigation. The rule also sets guidelines for users to follow when building greywater systems.

The state set up a three-tiered system to handle greywater with different risk levels. A Tier 1 is a gravity-based system for greywater that comes out of the shower, bathroom sink or laundry, Schneider said. A Tier 2 and Tier 3, which require permits, are bigger, handle more greywater and are not gravity based.

Setting regulations to protect public health is a good thing, but the permitting processes are complex, said Dan Welch, a building designer and avid gardener.

"There needs to be a balance some place, and right now I think they´re falling more on the sides of restrictions," he said.

Welch is designing his own greywater system for his family’s property in the Birchwood neighborhood in Bellingham.

Welch said he decided to design his system with Buehrer´s help after hearing policy discussions about new greywater regulations peaked his interest.

The system he and Buehrer are designing, however, is not subject to department of health greywater rules. Instead, his greywater system falls under the International Building Code (IBC) and the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC).

The difference between these codes and the state´s greywater rule is that the IBC and the UPC regulate greywater reuse inside of a building. The department of health´s greywater rule regulates outdoor greywater irrigation, Schneider said. Because Welch´s greywater system is subject to the IBC and the UPC, he has to obtain a permit under these two codes.

Welch said he is designing a system called a living wall, which will be located behind the wall of his shower.

"So the plants are going to be right in front of your face," he said.

The system will pump used water into pockets of soil and plants. Welch said microbes and bacteria in the soil will help break down the nitrogen and phosphorous in the wastewater.

"It just makes sense to double dip," he said. "It´s a benefit because it´s full of nitrogen and phosphorous - all those things you´d go to the store [for]. You´re just doing that naturally by reusing your greywater," Welch said.

Anitra Accetturo, water conservation specialist for the City of Bellingham, said Bellingham currently does not have a policy for greywater reuse. She said the city has started a sustainable water management plan in the past year, which incorporates rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse. But so far, they have only focused on rainwater harvesting, and next year the city is planning to study greywater reuse, she said.

Accetturo said Bellingham has an adequate water supply to support the city´s average daily water use of 10 million to 11 million gallons.

"Where we start to see problems is in the summer time when [average daily water use] jumps up to 15 to 19 million gallons per day, " she said. "That puts a strain on our ability to produce enough water to meet demand. "

She said greywater reuse could help offset that increased demand. The plan right now, Welch said, is to start building his greywater system in the spring. He said keeping the cyclical water diagram in mind reminds him that building his greywater system could help the environment become a healthier place.

"You know, just because it rains here doesn´t mean that we shouldn´t focus on those things," he said. "It doesn´t make it less important not to focus on those water issues."