Wenatchee World Article : PUD looks to raise fish in Lake Wenatchee pens
Hi again-
Below is a copy of an email I sent this morning to our Chelan County
Commissioners and the Chelan PUD Commissioners. I encourage you to send
your comments to them and please post your comments on this website also.
This is an important issue for all of us here at the lake.
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George
Chelan County PUD Commissioners:
Randy Smith r.smith@chelanpud.org
Werner Janssen: werner.janssen@chelanpud.org
Dennis Bolz: dennis.bolz@chelanpud.org
Ann Congdon ann.congdon@chelanpud.org
Norm Gutzwilere norm.gutzwiler@chelanpud.org
Chelan County Commissioners:
Keith Goehner Keith.Goehner@co.chelan.wa.us
Buell Hawkins Buell.Hawkins@co.chelan.wa.us
Ron Walter Ron.Walter@co.chelan.wa.us
Good morning-
I was surprised to read in the Wenatchee World of Feb 21 of a hearing held
on Feb 20 concerning Grant County PUD’s use of Chelan PUD’s fish pens in
Lake Wenatchee.
I have received some calls already from other residents at the lake that
feel we were blindsided on this hearing and I agree with them. I have
attended every one of the meetings held to discuss the Grant County projects
on the White River and Nason Creek and have always received notification of
meetings from their "facilitator" so am obviously on their email
distribution for these matters. I heard nothing. If there was any public
announcement of this hearing it was woefully inadequate. The comment in the
World article that no one spoke against the PUD use of these pens is
particularly offensive to me because it creates the impression that there is
no opposition. I assure you that is not the case.
There are so many questions concerning this issue and process that I really
don’t know where to begin.
1. Mr Langshaw of Grant PUD is quoted in the article as saying that
this project would dump only 15 pounds of phosphorous into the lake over a
six-to-eight week period but that an estimated 45 pounds of phosphorous is
put into the lake from elsewhere on a daily basis. If they have that kind of
data available we would surely like to see it and ask them where that
phosphorous is coming from since they seem to know much about it. Is there
not fish excrement going into the lake to consider in addition to
phosphorous?
2. Why is the Chelan County Building Department alone passing on this
project? Are the Departments of Ecology or Fisheries or the Chelan/Douglas
Health District not involved where water quality is at risk? Many homes on
this lake still draw their drinking water from the lake which does not seem
to be a concern to anyone reviewing these projects. The agencies that should
be involved all seem to take a hands-off "it’s someone else’s job" attitude
when dealing with projects like this that can affect the whole lake but a
citizen cannot build a simple little floating dock up here without a myriad
of expensive permits and stipulations as to grated decks, white finishings,
etc. Docks do not put one once of phosphorous into the lake but it is
Fisheries that reviews those dock applications. How do we reconcile the lack
of consistency in the attitudes taken by these different agencies?
3. Has our own Chelan County PUD approved this expanded use of their
pens without any public process? We were aware that Grant PUD had used the
pens one year but I assume that if this is going through a permitting
process that it is anticipated this will be a continuing program. Our PUD is
certainly aware of the water quality issue at Lake Wenatchee and to sign off
on this wish list of Grant County PUD without input from their own
ratepayers and area residents is insulting. I had contacted PUD about
participating in a water-quality testing program here after I was contacted
by Department of Ecology and frankly got pretty much a cold shoulder until
DOE informed our PUD of some issues then all of a sudden PUD was all for
additional water quality monitoring. So let’s have that done before this
expanded fish pen program is imposed on us. A number of residents at the
lake have volunteered to assist in a DOE-sponsored water-quality testing
program.
4. When the PUD wanted to build the wastewater system at Lake Wenatchee
they had all kinds of data showing the lake to be deteriorating. Since then
the cost of this system to users has increased far beyond what we were told
it would be and now when we question if the system is cleaning up the lake
like it was supposed to we are told PUD has no data one way or the other.
Again, let’s find out why the lake is deteriorating before expanded use of
the fish pens is permitted. To do otherwise in my thinking would be
foolishness.
I was not initially opposed to the White River project by Grant County until
I went to the meetings they held and became increasingly and adamantly
convinced that the project could not succeed and yet the advocates of the
project repeatedly and absolutely refused to approve an independent
scientific review of the project to determine it’s merit. This was a project
that Grant County had to do in it’s re-licensing process and I truly believe
they knew it couldn’t work but really didn’t care- they had to spend a
gazillion dollars so they could say "we tried" on their re-permitting
application. That project was being pushed down our throats and I believe
this fish pen project is also.
Why in the world would Chelan County or our Chelan PUD approve this expanded
use of the Lake Wenatchee fish pens before the water quality issues are
resolved? Everyone says they don’t know where the pollutants in this lake
are coming from so why approve a project like this before you know? There is
a lot at stake here, and I can assure you that Lake residents are going to
be very attentive to the course taken here. I ask each of you to come up
here and take a look at this lake after the ice moves out. The crud on the
lakebottom rocks looks like beards growing on them. We used to look at the
lakebottom and see a beautiful pattern of multi-colored rocks. All we see
now is green slime. Please don’t abandon your role as our defenders in this
issue by allowing this project to go forward without first resolving the
question of where this stuff is coming from.
Respectfully submitted,
George Wilson
Lake Wenatchee
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Randy Smith
Chelan County Commissioner
Dear Mr Smith,
As a resident on the North Shore of Lake Wenatchee I was encouraged to hear that there were steps to be taken to to monitor the deteriorating water quality on the lake. However I was equally discouraged to hear that a meeting was held with apparently no solicitation for input by the lake’s residents concerning Grant County PUD’s use of Chelan PUD’s fish pens on Lake Wenatchee.
A recent article in the Wenatchee World stated that no one spoke against the PUD use of these pens at the above mentioned meeting, creating the impression that there is no opposition. However I and many of my neighbors feel that until the source of the deteriorating water quality on the lake is identified the fish pens are suspected of contributing to this deterioration and deserve to be subjected to a thorough study.
The residents of Lake Wenatchee out of the concern for the water quality connected to a sewer system. Since then, and in spite of this, the quality of the water has deteriorated to the point that I am unable to keep my balance on the rocky bottom due to a slimy growth. This is not the pristine condition of the lake that drew me here.
I recommend that the fish pen project be put on hold until the residents concerns are addressed with hard data resulting from verifiable measurements of water quality.
Sincerely,
Gary Schuster
Lake Wenatchee
Good Morning All-
Thanks George for catching this article in Wenatchee World and sharing your letter to the Commissioners about the decision that was made without any input from any of us. I will be replying directly to all the PUD and County Commissioners voicing my grave concern for the actions they took this week. I am in a state of shock that they would have made this decision so casually, without notice, and without the input of the other impacted Chelan County Departments.
I can not think of any issue that impacts home owners more than the quality of water at Lake Wenatchee. Water quality directly affects our health, our use of the lake for recreational purposes, the value of our properties, and the joy we all have spending time there. Also, the LW area is a gem for others in the state to enjoy via the state campground. If the quality of the lake continues to deteriorate through actions like this, we have much to lose.
It is essential that we get the Commissioners attention and engagement on this important issue. I would echo George’s suggestion that we all contact our Commissioners. I would hope that this would lead to actions like opening up what existing information is known about the water quality (seems info flows only when beneficial to the petitioning parties), strengthened water testing, and re-opening this decision.
I think it is also important to have a Plan B if the “front door” doesn’t work. If we do need a Plan B, some thoughts that come to mind are a voluntary Legal Defense Fund to pursue legal remedies, attracting other public interest groups to aid us in our concerns over clean water, and/or a very public demonstration with full media coverage. We need to be aggressive about protecting that which is dear to us. Recovery from inaction is a much harder route to go.
Thanks,
Ron Large
North Shore Home Owner
Dear Ms. McNiel,
I am a Wenatchee cabin owner on Lk. Wenatchee and have been on the lake since 1977. The Lake Wenatchee people have been justifiably concerned by the hatchery proposals by Grant PUD to satisfy their relicensing requirements regardless of whether it makes sense, will add any fish to the rivers or negatively affect water quality in Lake Wenatchee. I am on the Grant PUD mailing list and received no notice of any public meeting regarding the presentation. I was not aware that our County Planning office had any say over water issues such as this. The fact that there was no one from Lake Wenatchee at the meeting indicates that none were informed. We have been told their were no records of lake water quality but note that Grant Co. will adhere to the same sampling studies of the Chelan PUD. We all bought into and are paying for the sewer system at Lake Wenatchee because we were told our septic systems were fouling the water and it seemed like (and still does) a good investment to preserve that water quality. The fish feeding and fish feces we think are contributing to the increased algae growth in the lake. Where the 45# of phosphorus Mr. Langshaw says is going into the lake daily is coming from I have no idea. Unless it is the current net pens. Obviously, these are questions that would have been asked had anyone from the lake known about the meeting. I would ask you to check the Lake Wenatchee web site (below) to gauge the response of the Lake Wenatchee/Plain/Kahler Glen etc. community.
Gerald Gibbons, MD
http://www.lakewenatcheeinfo.com
I don`t like being a contrarian on this issue, but after coming up here since 1948(You can eliminate the earlier years since I was, uhh, very young)it hasn`t changed much. I have always seen the plant growth. I think the current discussion on this blog is much overdone. The scientific facts were presented a year or two ago on George`s previous site when a biologist was asked to analyze. She said that the “slime” is common on ancient lakes. It is a part of the normal ecosystem. This is an ancient lake.The number of fish that are raised in the pen probably are not in any way close to what were here originally. I used to see salmon spawning off our dock–no more. Thus the reason for the pens! Thanks for the opportunity to comment, Roger
In addition, our family has been drawing water out of the lake without filtration or treatment since 1973.
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