The Blooms of Bremerton

By Bethany Meyer

June 12, 2020

Between long stretches of sprinkling rain and hail, the sun beckons on rare warm days. It’s spring, when people are itching to leave the confines of their homes after the long, wet Pacific Northwest winter. But instead of flocking to the water, the residents of Bremerton must stay away from Kitsap Lake. The water is toxic and unwelcoming due to the microscopic organisms living there.

Algal blooms are a natural part of Kitsap Lake’s history. Unfortunately, they have been occurring more frequently in lakes across the U.S., including Kitsap. As humans add excess nutrients to the land, like grass fertilizers, they wash into water systems and result in eutrophication, or excess nutrients in the water.

Algal blooms pose a risk to human health. Eight thousand people got sick after a 1931 bloom in the Ohio River. There is also a link between algal blooms and gastrointestinal illnesses.

The residents of Bremerton know all too well the dangers posed by algal blooms. In September 2019, a Kitsap County Sheriff’s K-9, Heiko, was exposed to a bloom while chasing a suspect. The dog’s handler was able to immediately administer first aid to the dog and save his life. Heiko made a full recovery.

Toxic algae, despite its name, isn’t algae at all. It’s cyanobacteria, which are bacteria that photosynthesize like plants. Blooms of cyanobacteria occur when a lake becomes overfilled with the nutrients the bacteria feed on. These can come from things like phosphorus fertilizers used to feed plants and pet waste left at the side of the road instead of being bagged up and thrown in the trash.

As the cyanobacteria grow and die, they use up the oxygen in the lake making the environment inhospitable to fish. Depleted oxygen can trigger fish kills.

Certain strains of cyanobacteria release toxins that can kill humans and pets. Toxins from these blooms can affect the liver, brain, respiratory system or skin, said Angela Strecker, director of the Institute for Watershed Studies and professor at Western Washington University.

Certain strains of cyanobacteria release toxins that can kill humans and pets.

For the residents of Bremerton, this means that Kitsap Lake, which is prone to algal blooms and fecal coliform contamination, needs to be shut down for part of the year. The lake is closed due to toxins for about two months throughout the year, said Bremerton stormwater permit coordinator Chance Berthiaume.

“There’s algae there all the time,” said Jeff Elevado, director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Bremerton. During an algal bloom, there is an excess of algae, which create the toxins that lead to health risks, said Elevado.

“It’s bloom by a thousand cuts.”

“It’s bloom by a thousand cuts,” said Stacy Galleher, acting communications manager for the Washington Department of Ecology water quality department.

When a bloom is suspected, a sample of the water is sent to King County, where it is tested in the King County Environmental Lab for the presence of cyanobacteria.

Scientists test for four different cyanotoxins. The most common are microcystins, which cause gastrointestinal issues, and anatoxins, which can affect the nervous system, including the brain.

Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler said he began to recognize the issue while canvassing for the upcoming mayoral campaign. The residents complained that the lake was constantly closing down due to dangerous blooms. He made mitigation part of his campaign.

“It’s taken all of us to make this a priority,” Wheeler said.

“Everybody recognizes that algae blooms are a problem,” said Berthiaume. The lakeside residents were discussing paying $200,000 to $250,000 in 2020 to treat the lake with Phoslock, a clay-based additive that binds with phosphorus in the lake and settles to the bottom where it can’t feed algal blooms, said Berthiaume. The 116 property owners were considering an annual fund, but there was a lot of pushback from residents who thought the costs were too high, said Berthiaume.

“It’s additional taxing on those individuals and a lot of them weren’t really willing to pay more taxes. I can’t blame them,” said Elevado. “But the reality was, if we didn’t have the funds to start doing some of this mitigation, quality wasn’t going to improve.”

There was not much trust between property owners and the city because there had been previous studies done on the lake, but nothing ever came of them, said Berthiaume. A 2011 study by the Kitsap Health District showed that phosphorus was causing algal blooms, yet the problem continued.

At one meeting to discuss costs, tensions were high and residents came ready to argue against the high annual costs they felt were being foisted on them. It was at this meeting that the city announced that the Phoslock treatments for Kitsap Lake would be paid for by the city.

The tense mood in the room quickly evaporated, said Berthiaume. “All of the air went out of the room and it was just total relief,” he said. The mayor was giddy about it as well. This kind of thing just doesn’t happen. It was a good message and a good meeting, said Berthiaume.

For the next three years, Kitsap Lake will get Phoslock treatments. This means that for the next three years, algae levels should be under control. The underlying problem remains, however, and it will take more work to prevent future blooms, Berthiaume said.

One of the best ways to solve the problem is through education.

“Two people can do a lot of damage to the environment,” said Berthiaume. “If you don’t have people on board to change behaviors … all the effort from the government is not effective.”

Now that people know what causes these blooms, many are taking steps to prevent them, Berthiaume said. People are using more environmentally-friendly fertilizers and some are not applying fertilizers at all. Gardens have receded from the shoreline and people aren’t dumping or putting compost piles near the lake, said Berthiaume.

Algal blooms are an issue across all of Washington, but the city of Bremerton was able to work together to craft a plan to combat the growth of toxic algae in their lake. This spring, Phoslock will be added to Kitsap Lake for the first time and the residents of Bremerton might finally get to spend more time on the water.