Swimmin’ In Sewage

A favorite pastime is put in jeopardy after a sewage leak.

An outfall pipe spills water on a beach at Bloedel Donovan Park, the site of the sewage leak.

Story by Brodey O’Brien // Photos by Jakck Gates

March 29, 2025

Liya Sisay and Maggie Philip find themselves sitting on a bench enjoying the sun, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. They're not alone, Bloedel Donovan Park is teeming with people taking advantage of the lovely 56-degree weather. They watch as families gather on the playground, people walk their dogs, and a group of high schoolers set up for a volleyball game, only to stop and take a break with a swim. 

Sisay and Philip both claim that swimming is a park favorite as multiple people can be seen wading in the waters. 

This pastime was suddenly put at risk on the afternoon of Sep. 11, 2024. After a sewage line was struck and breached during emergency construction, 25,000 to 50,000 gallons of untreated sewage was spilled directly into Lake Whatcom. The lake serves as the primary drinking water source for over 100,000 residents of Whatcom County. A sewage spill could potentially be very dangerous for residents. 

The City of Bellingham in 2009 expressed its commitment to the protection and improvement of drinking water sources across Whatcom, for the benefit of future generations. 

The leak occurred on the Electric Avenue Bridge, which directly overlooks Bloedel Donovan Park and the surrounding Silver Beach neighborhood.

Standing over Lake Whatcom is the Electric Avenue Bridge, the site of a burst wastewater pipe.

The Silver Beach Neighborhood, located at the northwestern edge of Lake Whatcom and at the epicenter of the sewage spill, is home to more than 3,000 people—accounting for 20% of the 15,000 residents living along the Lake Whatcom Watershed. With so many people living in the immediate area, concerns over water safety quickly grew.

Within a week Whatcom County Public Works and the City of Bellingham issued warnings regarding water quality in and around Bloedel Donovan Park.

Sisay and Philip, both students at Western Washington University, shared their love for spending summer days at Bloedel Donovan Park. While swimming was listed as an immediate favorite, they also enjoyed tanning, playing volleyball, and relaxing in the grass.

“I can’t swim there anymore,” Philip, recalling what she first thought when she heard about the spill, said. “And look, there’s people swimming down there.”

The pair turned their attention to two individuals wading into the frigid waters of Lake Whatcom, their expressions shifting to clear concern.

“I wonder if they know about it,” Sisay remarked.

Their concern, however, reflects a much larger issue, lapses in water quality in Lake Whatcom. Since 1998, the City of Bellingham has listed Lake Whatcom as an impaired waterbody, as it failed to meet state water quality standards regarding dissolved oxygen and phosphorus levels. This classification led to the creation of the Lake Whatcom Management Program, which has dedicated its efforts to keeping the lake clean and its forests and ecosystems healthy.

The Lake Whatcom Management Program’s actions prevent, capture, and reduce the amount of nutrients and bacteria in runoff entering the lake. Partners of the program track the progress of on-the-ground activities to quantify outreach efforts. This boosted actions like the 2005 city and county phosphorus fertilizer ban. Additionally, the establishment of the County Lake Whatcom stormwater utility provides funding for water quality testing.

Pipes run alongside the Electric Avenue bridge over Lake Whatcom.

Testing conducted by Whatcom County Health and Community Services justified the closure of the parks. Samples collected by the Electric Avenue Bridge exceeded safe levels for fecal coliform, indicating a significantly increased risk for bacterial infections.

Philip and Sisay expressed their concerns at not hearing updates regarding the spill.

Despite the management programs' efforts to reduce the concentrations of phosphorus, spills like this one can set progress back.

High phosphorus content from untreated sewage could speed up eutrophication in Lake Whatcom, particularly affecting the Silver Beach neighborhoods and popular parks like Bloedel Donovan Park. This excess of phosphorus in the area could result in harmful algal blooms.

Western’s toxicologist and professor, Dr. Manuel Montaño acknowledged that these freshwater algal blooms can lead to the release of harmful cyanotoxins. These cyanotoxins can be especially dangerous to pets, particularly dogs. Symptoms in severe cases include seizures, collapse and even sudden death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the health risks associated with these harmful algal blooms for humans include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or disease if swallowed.

No chemicals were used in the cleanup of the spill,instead, the city opted to use a dilution method. This method involved lowering the concentration of sewage by increasing the amount of uncontaminated water introduced into the area. The city of Bellingham achieved this by opening up the gates of the Lake Whatcom Dam, increasing the flow of water to the affected area. 

“Dilution is the solution to pollution,” Mantaño joked. He continued by explaining that dilution, while simple, is a fairly standard cleanup practice, expressing no concern with the city’s chosen cleanup method.

Mantaño, when questioned about contaminants affecting the local flora and fauna for an extended period, expressed uncertainty. Stating that if there was no continual input of contaminants then the area would not experience any “chronic effects”.

Results from the continued testing conducted by Whatcom County Health and Community Services proved that this method was successful in bringing concentrations of fecal coliform down to safe levels, along with the risk of E. coli.

On Sep. 17, 2024, the City of Bellingham’s Public Works department announced that the Bloedel Donovan beach would reopen to the public by 2 p.m. Updated water quality testing once again confirmed that bacteria levels in the affected area had returned to safe levels for recreational use.

Philip, with a smile, recalls a favorite memory of her time at Bloedel Donovan Park last summer—fish nibbling at her feet as she waded in the water of the park's beaches. Both Philip and Sisay laughed and nodded as they looked at the beach; their excitement about returning to the park and its cleaned beaches this summer is palpable. 

When asked to comment on what the city would do to prevent another spill from happening in the future Torhil Ramsay, the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­City of Bellingham Public Works department, stated that the city is improving it’s review of historical records. Even in emergency repair situations, the city will work to better identify underground utility locations—especially older, poorly documented lines—to prevent future conflicts.

Viewed from the bridge on Electric Avenue, geese land on Lake Whatcom at Bloedel Donovan Park. The adjacent shores are lined with houses.