The Columbian | Serving Clark County, Washington

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.

A new three-year, $750,000 study is being planned to, as a story in Wednesday’s edition of The Columbian put it, “examine the plumbing of Vancouver Lake.”

This is not to be confused with any previous studies of the lake in a quest to ensure its fitness. It is not a repeat of any previous efforts to determine why the lake occasionally becomes infested with “toxic blooms of blue-green algae that routinely prompt summertime health warnings against swimming or water contact.”

For some three decades, Vancouver Lake has been under scrutiny, with little or no change in the situation. In the early 1980s, a $17 million restoration project was undertaken, including the development of a flushing channel; in 2006, the lake was dredged; over the years, other studies have been conducted.

And yet we are left talking about the same problems today.

The cynical approach would be to say something about throwing good money after bad. Or to point out that sometimes Mother Nature cannot be overcome by good intentions. Or to suggest that nature should be allowed to run its course. As Douglas Larson — an expert in the demise of lakes that become filled with nutrients and sediment — told The Columbian, “There’s no saving it.” That was for a story that appeared in 2003.

Or, as The Columbian editorialized in 2004, “To a geologist, Vancouver Lake might be on its deathbed. But, thanks to some willingness by local and state governments to work together and pay some bills, the short-term picture is considerably less murky.”

That emphasizes the hopefulness that has led to the latest study. Clark County, the City of Vancouver, and the Port of Vancouver are splitting the $405,500 local share of the study; the U.S. Geological Survey is contributing $346,100 through its cooperative water program.

That’s your money, of course. And because of that, it is crucial to examine the importance of Vancouver Lake to the region.

As a 2,600-acre body of water on the city’s western border, Vancouver Lake provides a vibrant ecosystem for the area. Fed by Burnt Bridge Creek and Salmon Creek, it is subject to the drain of urban basins that includes street and parking lot runoff, lawn fertilizer, and animal and septic tank waste.

And when the water becomes infested, a problem compounded by warm summer days, it is hazardous to the health of swimmers, waders, pets, and wildlife. Swimmers can be told to avoid the lake; good luck telling that to a great blue heron.

That is what makes it important to understand and improve the conditions at Vancouver Lake. Possible steps toward a solution include programs to retrofit stormwater drainage systems, inspect septic systems, or otherwise curtail chemicals such as nitrogen or phosphorus used in fertilizers. Those won’t be cheap, but ultimate costs of ignoring the problem could be much higher.

It’s a complex problem for a complex ecosystem, as previous attempts and previous failures have demonstrated. And yet it remains a worthwhile endeavor, given the vast number of people and the wide array of wildlife that come into contact with the lake.

Because of that, the latest study is a cause for weary-but-cautious optimism. Work begins this summer with three new water gauges on Lake River, Burnt Bridge Creek and the flushing channel. As Ron Wierenga, director of Clark County’s Clean Water Program told The Columbian, “I know nobody wants to study the lake forever. We feel that this USGS study is going to fill the most significant data gap.”

We hope he’s right about the project filling in the data gap. We know he’s right about nobody wanting to study the lake forever.

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