Liberty Lake Sewer District Seeks Funds Up To $400,000 Needed To Unclog Drainage Ditch

Wetlands and dried up funds are hampering efforts to clean out Liberty Lake’s silt-clogged drainage ditch.

The 1.5-mile Liberty Lake drain, which regulates the lake’s water level, must be cleaned out to prevent flooding and water pollution, said William Funk, director of the Water Research Center at Washington State University.

Unfortunately, Funk said, the once-abundant state and federal grants used for such projects have dried up.

The project could cost between $200,000 and $400,000, in part because the drainage ditch has turned into a series of protected wetlands. Where possible, the wetland environment must remain intact, wetlands experts have told the Liberty Lake Sewer District. Any lost wetland area must be compensated by the creation of a new wetland elsewhere.

The sewer district has hired an engineering firm and a wetlands consultant to complete engineering and mitigation studies, which will pin down a more precise price tag. It’s now searching for a way to pay for the project.

“There are very few funds available now for people to compete for,” said Allen Moore, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Ecology. Moore used to run the agency’s lake restoration program, until his position was eliminated, along with much of the funding for lake restoration projects.

Back in the 1970s, and through about 1990, almost any lake project that dealt with restoration and had merit got funding, Moore said. After awhile, money from the large Centennial Clean Water Fund was diverted to economic development and other areas. What remained no longer had a percentage set aside for lake projects.

Other funds have dried up along the way.

“Priorities shift around,” Moore said. The emphasis is now on sewage treatment plants. Lake projects rarely win grants anymore, he said.

Even so, the Liberty Lake Sewer District has applied for a Centennial Clean Water grant.

It has also asked for help from county officials, state legislators and the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

“We’re really not getting anywhere,” said sewer commissioner Bob Gamble. If wildlife was threatened, or the flooding was worse, the options would be greater, Gamble said.

Without outside funding, the district will have to tax sewer district members to pay for the project, or borrow the money and raise rates to compensate.

While some believe this is fair, Funk disagrees. The WSU researcher has monitored Liberty Lake’s pollution problems and restoration efforts since the 60s. With the lake’s many visitors, he doesn’t believe property owners should be the only ones to pay for the prevention of pollution and future flooding problems.

The Liberty Lake drain may be filled with up to four or five feet of silt, Gamble said. The drain is actually an old irrigation canal, used by farmers in the early 1900s. It removes excess water from the lake during the high water levels of winter and spring, but because of silt build-up and plant growth, can no longer effectively regulate the lake’s water level.

Fortunately, Gamble said, flooding has thus far been limited to basements.

High water levels have washed away part of a dike that separates lake water from the nutrient-rich marsh water. The higher the water levels, the more the two will mix, Funk said, leading to a risk of more algae blooms and a return of the scummy green water Liberty Lake used to have.

, DataTimes