422e 



3.) Harbor decontamination by carrying industrial and municipal 

 effluents to areas of greater tidal action. 



Obviously pollution of the watercourse was recognized as a major problem. 



c.) A study In 1953 by U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, Bellingham Chamber of Com- 

 merce and Realty Board concludes: (See Exhibit 3) 



"The lake and lake shore are now used as a recreational, 

 residential and industrial area, creating a pollution problem 

 of major proportions." 



2. The source of the Whatcom Creek (Lake Whatcom) serves as a domestic water 

 supply. In this regard: 



a.) Heavily silted Middle Fork water (approx. 65,000,000 gals/day) are intro- 

 duced into Mirror Lake. Water then flows through Anderson Creek into 

 Lake Whatcom. In its passage to the lake it traverses heavily contamin- 

 ated barnyards. 



No information seems to be available on siltation rate, but to an un- 

 trained observer, it is apparent that Mirror Lake is being ruined by 

 the glacial silt, and that generated as a result of logging operations. 



b.) Except for level, there is no regulation of this supply. Alternative 



solutions to lake level problems were known in 1946. (See Exhibits 2 and 

 3) 



c.) There are no city, county or state policies for regulation of municipal 

 supplies. (See Exhibit 4) 



d.) Concern for coliform in domestic water has been expressed. Attention to 

 viruses not. Viruses have only recently been recognized as a cause of 

 water-born disease (Ref. 12). Identification of viruses is at best diffi- 

 cult, and the absence of the standard coliform indicator organism, coli- 

 form bacteria, may not assure freedom from virus (Ref. 13). 



3. Attitudes towards domestic supplies are lax. 



a.) In one of the definitive studies of some of the surface waters in our 

 area (Ref. 2) we read on page 114, "All cities should collect at least 

 one bacteriological sample per month and the Whatcom County Health 

 Department has adopted a policy of trying to collect at least one sample 

 per year from every community supply". Thirty-five domestic supplies 

 are listed on page 115, excluding Bellingham as of 1960. 



Further, on page 123 (Ref. 2) we read: 



"No biological tests have been conducted in the study area, for no 

 special problems have occurred to warrant such tests." 



