It is frustrating to see Coulon Beach Park closed with increasing frequency due to fecal coliform. With its 55 acres of land and a mile of waterfront, it’s too valuable of a public asset for us to sit by and watch the beaches get closed for yet another weekend due to pollution. Our Northwest summers are too short already.
For years we’ve had no closures of this park, in part because we have been paying about one-hundred-thousand dollars per year to keep geese away from the park and to stop the geese from breeding.
But last year, and this, we seem to be getting a new source of pollution from an as-yet undetermined source. Even though we have the goose population much reduced from years past, the fecal matter is getting worse and we have to do something about it.
Some possible causes are failing septic systems or broken sewer pipes in older neighborhoods around the lake. Maybe… but I sometimes wonder if Metro’s own sewer interceptors, which run right along the lake shore and even under water (carrying sewage from Mercer Island and the entire East Side of Lake Washington), might be the source.
It’s not right for the responsible jurisdictions of Metro, King County, and the State of Washington to sit by and watch as Renton maintains this priceless public property with the highest quality of care all year; then watch as we hire life guards, summer maintenance assistants, extra police, and a cadre of other summer help so that the entire south County may have free public access to Lake Washington compliments of Renton taxpayers; AND THEN SHUT OUR BEACH.
The mayor should demand that Metro fix this situation immediately…if she can’t turn the situation around, the city council may have to step in.
1958 campaign poster to encourage voters to form Metro, to clean up Lake Washington
Coulon Beach Park, 50 years later
For King County information on beach closures click here
More Pictures!..Click here to see more pictures from the Coulon Beach park closure
Recent Comments