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Parrott says geese a big polluter
Does Lynch Cove need a sewer
system? Gary Parrott's not so sure
and fbr three straight weeks he
addressed the issue at meetings of
the Mason County Board of Com-
missioners. He questioned the
need to install a sewer system in
the area.
Starting on Tuesday, November
28, Parrott flooded commissioners
with information pointing against
the need tbr a sewer. A resident
of Lynch Cove, his documentation
included an article describing a
technique developed in Tillamook
Bay to derive figures on the non-
human contribution to overall fe-
cal coliform counts.
"I was surprised to learn this
technique is being used right now
in Oakland Bay. Why not check
out the numbers in Lynch Cove
prior to commissioning the North
Shore Sewer?" he said in reading
from a prepared statement.
Parrott also mentioned a recent
report on National Public Radio
regarding a company on the East
Coast which also has a method for
discriminating between human
and non-human fecal coliform. In
one case, he said, this company
identified pets as the primary con-
tributor to pollution and saved a
community from having to build
an expensive and unnecessary
sewer.
"THE NPR report astounded
me when it noted that a Canada
goose produces the same amount
of daily tcal coliform as a human
being. I have a field and an orchard
n Lynch Cove. I never saw a resi-
ent goose on my property before
1995. That year 30 showed up in
August and stayed until Christ-
mas," he said.
Parrott said the geese eat grass
and fallen apples and then "hang
out" on the mud fiats. By his calcu-
lation their number has increased
to well over 100.
"They are here every day con-
tributing to the fecal coliform, num-
bers," he continued. "What s the
ontribution? Let's say there are
20 geese. It's nothing to ignore. If
bfee had a permanent encampment
120 people on a Lynch Cove
aca without toilet facilities, we'd
have a fit."
,, He said that sewer planners use
equivalent residential units," or
ERUs, describing the waste gener-
ated by 2.56 people. Using these
numbers, he calculated that the
geese are !ike 4: ERUs i:ht;om n
pletely falhng sept]cs 1
the L,,ynch, Cove mud flats every
uay. That s not the whole Lynch
dCgo°le population. Add in the
goose
Is, ducks, seals, shorebirds,
gs, cats," he said. "You just can't
ignore it in the overall equation."
PARROTT ALSO made the
point that pets add to the animal
Waste generated by wildli "W C
all know that m the area o Lyn
Cove, there is no leash law and
pets have free run of the beaches,"
he sai -
d. To make matters worse,
the Belfair State Park is a popular
place to exercise dogs."
Meanwhile, residents of hous-
ing developments run their dogs
on community beaches. "With
all the money we're spending on
consultants and sewer planning,
why not apply a few bucks toward
ulscovering how much of L ch
C ' yn
, eve s fecal coliform is not coming
rom failing septics?" he asked.
These remarks were supple-
aented on December 5, when Par-
rott addressed the commissioners
gain. On this occasion he thanked
ramett Dobey, the county's direc-
tor of community development, for
taking prompt action to contact
the Washington State Department
r tiealth in Olympia and request
It to review the validity of the 2002
Declaration of Severe Health Haz-
ard for Lynch Cove.
Parrott had challenged this
designation, which is a pillar of
e current North Shore Sewer
Lension project. On week two
of his campaign he said the com-
.issioners w, ere probably wonder-
g: "Who was that wild guy from
ch Cove? What's all this about
ecal coliform?"
HE NOTED that the North
Shore Sewer Extension is really
about nitrogen. "Excessive nitro-
gen is the most pressing issue in
the Hood Canal today and I sin-
cerely appreciate your zeal in try-
ing to improve the health of Lynch
Cove," Parrott said, again reading
from a prepared statement.
He reminded the commissioners
that Tony Paulson, Jan Newton
and other scientists at the Uni-
versity of Washington have been
searching for the source of the
nitrogen in the cove and trying to
figure out how it circulates. They
recently released a report funded
by federal money obtained by U.S.
Congressman Norm Dicks which
identifies sources of nitrogen in
Hood Canal and Lynch Cove. "The
reason I attacked the Declara-
tion of Severe Health Hazard is
because it distracts our attention
from the real problem, which is
dissolved inorganic nitrogen," Par-
rott explained.
Parrott cited a prospectus for
the North Shore Sewer which in-
dicates it should be constructed to
address a public health problem
while preventing nitrogen seep-
ing out of septic systems and into
Hood Canal.
"When we drop the 'severe pub-
lic health hazard' as the justifica-
tion for a North Shore Sewer, we're
forced to promote the North Shore
proposal for what it really is: a ni-
trogen reduction system," he said.
"Once we take that path, we need
to show funders it's the most cost-
effective way to reduce nitrogen."
HE SAID scientists are con-
ducting tests to determine ni-
trogen outflows from septics in
Lynch Cove and have produced a
study that asks three questions:
Do nutrients actually make it into
the canal? Are sewage inputs sig-
nificant? What are the processes
that control spatial and temporal
distribution of ground water dis-
charge?
"Scientists ask questions when
they don't know the answers. If
they don't know the answers to
these questions, we certainly don't
and neither do our sewer plan-
ners," Parrott said.
He thinks there are some sim-
ple calculations that can be used
to make a "best case" estimate of
how much nitrogen the sewer sys-
tem would keep out of Lynch Cove.
He figures the sewer will serve
293 homes and Belfair State Park
with a "service population" of 927
people. He then applied the num-
bers of a published report indicat-
ing that on average each person
puts about a quarter of a kilogram
of nitrogen into a septic tank each
month.
Using these figures, he calcu-
lated the sewer has the potential
of removing as much as 227 kilo-
grams of nitrogen per month from
Lynch Cove. "Natural sources of
nitrogen entering Lynch Cove are
huge," he said. "The inflows from
streams, ground water and rain-
fall directly striking the cove are
measured not in kilograms but in
monthly metric tons."
HE HAD information indicat-
ing that regional ground water
carries 1.7 metric tons of nitro-
gen into Lynch Cove each month
and the Union River and Mission
Creek add three quarters of a met-
ric ton while seawater contributes
17 times the total of all freshwater
flows. He cited a study which found
that 87 metric tons of nitrogen per
month surge into Lynch Cove's
water from Admiralty Inlet.
"Without the challenge of cor-
recting a 'severe public health haz-
ard' due to fecal coliform in Lynch
Cove, the current North Shore
Sewer plan proposes to throw $8.5
million at the removal of 227 kilo-
grams per month of nitrogen," he
said. "Will this reduction have a
meaningful or measurable benefit
to the ecology of our canal? Will the
benefit of removing 227 kilograms
of nitrogen be undone by the nega-
tive environmental impacts of a
sewer through our sensitive wet-
lands and the new development
that sewer will surely bring with
it?
He questions whether removing
227 kilograms per month of nitro-
gen is the most effective use of the
$8.5 million projected to be spent
on the sewer system and followed
Nifty Thrifty
° Household Clothing Sporting Goods Tools Toys & Much More
BRIS OJE S,E ,PdcEs oooo,/,O_,a
mlmBa. I
Proceeds fund the ; .Purses, walletsl, c htch :
Mason Senior Center ! 1/2 OFF oags, lamps lighting.m
G 250501yHwyN ............... ..
ateway Shopping Center m Hours: Monday - Saturday 10-S
4)7-o8se Donations accepted: Monday- Saturday 10-4
SERVING J.SON COUNTY R.qtnx'v,S IN THE SJ4ME LOCATION FOR YEARS
up with more comments when he
addressed the commission for a
third time on December 12. This
time, he questioned how up-to-
date was the data the county had
fbr its North Shore sewer plans.
"I've come here today to talk
fast and straight about an issue of
truth and credibility," he said.
PARROTT POINTED to docu-
ments justifying the North Shore
Sewer Extension which cite a
state health department declara-
tion of severe public health hazard
in Lynch Cove dated back in 2002.
Now, he said, the county is using
this same declaration to justify
limited areas of more intense rural
development. His concern is "this
truly misleading 2002 Declaration
of Severe Health Hazard" will be
used to generate federal funds and
a bond issue. He made comments
in 2005 challenging the 2002 dec-
laration and complained that offi-
cials have not presented 2006 data
which supports the 2002 finding
or contradicts the data he has sub-
mitted to public health.
"The fact is, 2002 water quality
in Lynch Cove is irrelevant today;
2006 water quality data makes
the 2002 declaration obsolete. To
continue repeating 2002 data im-
plying that 2002 conditions still
exist, is intentionally misleading,"
he said.
His concern is that "misleading
information" might "descend to
fraudulent" down "the old slippery
slope" if used to obtain state or fed-
eral funds or float a bond issue.
"I urge you to put on the brakes,"
he said. "If we are successful in
gaining grants and funds to clean
up a problem which no longer ex-
ists, we are depriving some other
entity of using those funds where
they could be more beneficial for
our Hood Canal."
PARROTT ALSO pointed to
the 2002 declaration and its sug-
gestion that poor soils, runoff
and suspect or failing septic sys-
tems are why high levels of fecal
coliform may be expected in the
Belfair State Park area. Noting a
dearth of water quality data, he
said these statements are specu-
lative and their application to an
order closing the area to shellfish
harvesting no longer applies. Par-
rott said Lynch Cove has since re-
opened to recreational harvest of
oysters and oyster samples from
(Please turn to page 28.)
1
Now you can find
helpful information
about The Journal
on the Web at
www.masoncounty.com
Download forms for obituaries, engagements, weddings,
anniversaries, births, club news and bowling results.
Download a form for a classified ad or read information about
how to place a display ad. Find out about advertising rates and
deadlines for placing ads.
Download a form to subscribe to the paper.
Find out how to place a news story, who to call in the newsroom
to place a story and when deadlines are.
Learn about our offset printing services.
Review the guidelines for letters to the editor.
Enjoy a weekly gallery of news photos.
Read stories from the Visitor's Guide to Mason County.
Read the Year In Review or Mason County Profile.
Check Shelton High School sports schedules, find out where
local 12-step meetings are held or learn how to contact your
elected representatives.
This is not a site to read The Journal's news.
Nor is it a repository for e-mails.
It is a site to help us interact with our readers,
give them information about the newspaper
and make it easier for them to submit things
to us by traditional channels.
00the 9ourn
Your nifty newspaper gets its Web feet wet.
I
Thursday, January 11,2007 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 25
Parrott says geese a big polluter
Does Lynch Cove need a sewer
system? Gary Parrott's not so sure
and fbr three straight weeks he
addressed the issue at meetings of
the Mason County Board of Com-
missioners. He questioned the
need to install a sewer system in
the area.
Starting on Tuesday, November
28, Parrott flooded commissioners
with information pointing against
the need tbr a sewer. A resident
of Lynch Cove, his documentation
included an article describing a
technique developed in Tillamook
Bay to derive figures on the non-
human contribution to overall fe-
cal coliform counts.
"I was surprised to learn this
technique is being used right now
in Oakland Bay. Why not check
out the numbers in Lynch Cove
prior to commissioning the North
Shore Sewer?" he said in reading
from a prepared statement.
Parrott also mentioned a recent
report on National Public Radio
regarding a company on the East
Coast which also has a method for
discriminating between human
and non-human fecal coliform. In
one case, he said, this company
identified pets as the primary con-
tributor to pollution and saved a
community from having to build
an expensive and unnecessary
sewer.
"THE NPR report astounded
me when it noted that a Canada
goose produces the same amount
of daily tcal coliform as a human
being. I have a field and an orchard
n Lynch Cove. I never saw a resi-
ent goose on my property before
1995. That year 30 showed up in
August and stayed until Christ-
mas," he said.
Parrott said the geese eat grass
and fallen apples and then "hang
out" on the mud fiats. By his calcu-
lation their number has increased
to well over 100.
"They are here every day con-
tributing to the fecal coliform, num-
bers," he continued. "What s the
ontribution? Let's say there are
20 geese. It's nothing to ignore. If
bfee had a permanent encampment
120 people on a Lynch Cove
aca without toilet facilities, we'd
have a fit."
,, He said that sewer planners use
equivalent residential units," or
ERUs, describing the waste gener-
ated by 2.56 people. Using these
numbers, he calculated that the
geese are !ike 4: ERUs i:ht;om n
pletely falhng sept]cs 1
the L,,ynch, Cove mud flats every
uay. That s not the whole Lynch
dCgo°le population. Add in the
goose
Is, ducks, seals, shorebirds,
gs, cats," he said. "You just can't
ignore it in the overall equation."
PARROTT ALSO made the
point that pets add to the animal
Waste generated by wildli "W C
all know that m the area o Lyn
Cove, there is no leash law and
pets have free run of the beaches,"
he sai -
d. To make matters worse,
the Belfair State Park is a popular
place to exercise dogs."
Meanwhile, residents of hous-
ing developments run their dogs
on community beaches. "With
all the money we're spending on
consultants and sewer planning,
why not apply a few bucks toward
ulscovering how much of L ch
C ' yn
, eve s fecal coliform is not coming
rom failing septics?" he asked.
These remarks were supple-
aented on December 5, when Par-
rott addressed the commissioners
gain. On this occasion he thanked
ramett Dobey, the county's direc-
tor of community development, for
taking prompt action to contact
the Washington State Department
r tiealth in Olympia and request
It to review the validity of the 2002
Declaration of Severe Health Haz-
ard for Lynch Cove.
Parrott had challenged this
designation, which is a pillar of
e current North Shore Sewer
Lension project. On week two
of his campaign he said the com-
.issioners w, ere probably wonder-
g: "Who was that wild guy from
ch Cove? What's all this about
ecal coliform?"
HE NOTED that the North
Shore Sewer Extension is really
about nitrogen. "Excessive nitro-
gen is the most pressing issue in
the Hood Canal today and I sin-
cerely appreciate your zeal in try-
ing to improve the health of Lynch
Cove," Parrott said, again reading
from a prepared statement.
He reminded the commissioners
that Tony Paulson, Jan Newton
and other scientists at the Uni-
versity of Washington have been
searching for the source of the
nitrogen in the cove and trying to
figure out how it circulates. They
recently released a report funded
by federal money obtained by U.S.
Congressman Norm Dicks which
identifies sources of nitrogen in
Hood Canal and Lynch Cove. "The
reason I attacked the Declara-
tion of Severe Health Hazard is
because it distracts our attention
from the real problem, which is
dissolved inorganic nitrogen," Par-
rott explained.
Parrott cited a prospectus for
the North Shore Sewer which in-
dicates it should be constructed to
address a public health problem
while preventing nitrogen seep-
ing out of septic systems and into
Hood Canal.
"When we drop the 'severe pub-
lic health hazard' as the justifica-
tion for a North Shore Sewer, we're
forced to promote the North Shore
proposal for what it really is: a ni-
trogen reduction system," he said.
"Once we take that path, we need
to show funders it's the most cost-
effective way to reduce nitrogen."
HE SAID scientists are con-
ducting tests to determine ni-
trogen outflows from septics in
Lynch Cove and have produced a
study that asks three questions:
Do nutrients actually make it into
the canal? Are sewage inputs sig-
nificant? What are the processes
that control spatial and temporal
distribution of ground water dis-
charge?
"Scientists ask questions when
they don't know the answers. If
they don't know the answers to
these questions, we certainly don't
and neither do our sewer plan-
ners," Parrott said.
He thinks there are some sim-
ple calculations that can be used
to make a "best case" estimate of
how much nitrogen the sewer sys-
tem would keep out of Lynch Cove.
He figures the sewer will serve
293 homes and Belfair State Park
with a "service population" of 927
people. He then applied the num-
bers of a published report indicat-
ing that on average each person
puts about a quarter of a kilogram
of nitrogen into a septic tank each
month.
Using these figures, he calcu-
lated the sewer has the potential
of removing as much as 227 kilo-
grams of nitrogen per month from
Lynch Cove. "Natural sources of
nitrogen entering Lynch Cove are
huge," he said. "The inflows from
streams, ground water and rain-
fall directly striking the cove are
measured not in kilograms but in
monthly metric tons."
HE HAD information indicat-
ing that regional ground water
carries 1.7 metric tons of nitro-
gen into Lynch Cove each month
and the Union River and Mission
Creek add three quarters of a met-
ric ton while seawater contributes
17 times the total of all freshwater
flows. He cited a study which found
that 87 metric tons of nitrogen per
month surge into Lynch Cove's
water from Admiralty Inlet.
"Without the challenge of cor-
recting a 'severe public health haz-
ard' due to fecal coliform in Lynch
Cove, the current North Shore
Sewer plan proposes to throw $8.5
million at the removal of 227 kilo-
grams per month of nitrogen," he
said. "Will this reduction have a
meaningful or measurable benefit
to the ecology of our canal? Will the
benefit of removing 227 kilograms
of nitrogen be undone by the nega-
tive environmental impacts of a
sewer through our sensitive wet-
lands and the new development
that sewer will surely bring with
it?
He questions whether removing
227 kilograms per month of nitro-
gen is the most effective use of the
$8.5 million projected to be spent
on the sewer system and followed
Nifty Thrifty
° Household Clothing Sporting Goods Tools Toys & Much More
BRIS OJE S,E ,PdcEs oooo,/,O_,a
mlmBa. I
Proceeds fund the ; .Purses, walletsl, c htch :
Mason Senior Center ! 1/2 OFF oags, lamps lighting.m
G 250501yHwyN ............... ..
ateway Shopping Center m Hours: Monday - Saturday 10-S
4)7-o8se Donations accepted: Monday- Saturday 10-4
SERVING J.SON COUNTY R.qtnx'v,S IN THE SJ4ME LOCATION FOR YEARS
up with more comments when he
addressed the commission for a
third time on December 12. This
time, he questioned how up-to-
date was the data the county had
fbr its North Shore sewer plans.
"I've come here today to talk
fast and straight about an issue of
truth and credibility," he said.
PARROTT POINTED to docu-
ments justifying the North Shore
Sewer Extension which cite a
state health department declara-
tion of severe public health hazard
in Lynch Cove dated back in 2002.
Now, he said, the county is using
this same declaration to justify
limited areas of more intense rural
development. His concern is "this
truly misleading 2002 Declaration
of Severe Health Hazard" will be
used to generate federal funds and
a bond issue. He made comments
in 2005 challenging the 2002 dec-
laration and complained that offi-
cials have not presented 2006 data
which supports the 2002 finding
or contradicts the data he has sub-
mitted to public health.
"The fact is, 2002 water quality
in Lynch Cove is irrelevant today;
2006 water quality data makes
the 2002 declaration obsolete. To
continue repeating 2002 data im-
plying that 2002 conditions still
exist, is intentionally misleading,"
he said.
His concern is that "misleading
information" might "descend to
fraudulent" down "the old slippery
slope" if used to obtain state or fed-
eral funds or float a bond issue.
"I urge you to put on the brakes,"
he said. "If we are successful in
gaining grants and funds to clean
up a problem which no longer ex-
ists, we are depriving some other
entity of using those funds where
they could be more beneficial for
our Hood Canal."
PARROTT ALSO pointed to
the 2002 declaration and its sug-
gestion that poor soils, runoff
and suspect or failing septic sys-
tems are why high levels of fecal
coliform may be expected in the
Belfair State Park area. Noting a
dearth of water quality data, he
said these statements are specu-
lative and their application to an
order closing the area to shellfish
harvesting no longer applies. Par-
rott said Lynch Cove has since re-
opened to recreational harvest of
oysters and oyster samples from
(Please turn to page 28.)
1
Now you can find
helpful information
about The Journal
on the Web at
www.masoncounty.com
Download forms for obituaries, engagements, weddings,
anniversaries, births, club news and bowling results.
Download a form for a classified ad or read information about
how to place a display ad. Find out about advertising rates and
deadlines for placing ads.
Download a form to subscribe to the paper.
Find out how to place a news story, who to call in the newsroom
to place a story and when deadlines are.
Learn about our offset printing services.
Review the guidelines for letters to the editor.
Enjoy a weekly gallery of news photos.
Read stories from the Visitor's Guide to Mason County.
Read the Year In Review or Mason County Profile.
Check Shelton High School sports schedules, find out where
local 12-step meetings are held or learn how to contact your
elected representatives.
This is not a site to read The Journal's news.
Nor is it a repository for e-mails.
It is a site to help us interact with our readers,
give them information about the newspaper
and make it easier for them to submit things
to us by traditional channels.
00the 9ourn
Your nifty newspaper gets its Web feet wet.
I
Thursday, January 11,2007 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 25