The Undertold Story of Lacamas Lake and Its Unlikely Heroes
Hey, it's Ry. We gotta talk about the biofilter.
Two names need your attention: Marie Tabata and Steve Bang.
Marie has meticulously documented the complex story of our lake and the failed biofilter at Lacamas Shores. Steve stood up to the HOA and the city, pouring his own resources to protect not just his home, but our community and future generations.
Picture David vs Goliath. Rocky. Rudy. They're the underdogs who didn't back down.
The biofilter failure? It's not new. It's been glaring at us for years. Potential solutions? Ignored. And now, we're in an ecological mess.
Invasive species invade, vegetation decays, and our biofilter, once a pollution shield, has become the pollution SOURCE.
And by source, I mean “point source”, which is EPA-speak for a distinct pollution origin, regulated by the Clean Water Act.
Our path forward? Swift, decisive action. We need what the city and its consultants neglected to do in their 12+ months of water testing (which won’t be available to the public until September at the very earliest).
We need thorough water testing around the Lacamas Shores biofilter. We know there’s a problem and the clock is ticking.
Politics tend to divide folks. But Marie and Steve, different as they are, united for a common purpose. Rescuing our lake—by fixing their HOA’s biofilter.
Their partnership? A blueprint for all of us. We can rally together for Lacamas. They've shown us how to become protectors. Now it's our turn.
Neglect must become action.
Complacency must become change.
It’s time we answer our environmental call of duty.
Because leadership's neglect cannot define us. We have the history. We have the data. Let's get to solutions.
We need leaders in City Hall who will act. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Today.
First, tackle the biofilter. Then, move on to aggressive upstream identification and mitigation. But most importantly, our leaders must act now to save our lake with available remedies.
If we wait, it'll be too late.
The lake needs us now.