Tucson Weekly: Unattractive Nuisance (June 19

Unattractive Nuisance

Take A Big Whiff, Kiddie--Lakeside Lake Is A Truly Stunning Achievement Just For You!
By G. J. Sagi
QUEASY-CATCH STEW
Start with 100 acre feet of treated sewage and concentrate.
Then:
• Install aerators at the bottom to stir the mess.
• Inject a minimum of 10 gallons of sulfuric acid.
• Toss in copper-based chemicals to retard algae growth.
• Add as many as 28 packets of dye every two weeks.
Directions: Keep the bowl full by adding treated sewage as needed.
Serving Instructions: As hundreds of kids fish in this toilet bowl, say nothing--simply wait to see what dies or crawls out!
--Official Government Recipe
THE TUCSON PARKS and Recreation Department followed this recipe to the letter while creating Lakeside Lake on the city's southeast side.
Currents Not only has the resulting soup regularly killed fish, it's also left area residents holding their noses in disgust. In fact, the neighborhood joke is: "Flush twice, it's a long way to Lakeside!"
How could this happen?
When the Arizona Water Resources Department was created in 1980, one of its main goals was to help reverse our state's seemingly insatiable thirst for fresh, potable water. This lofty goal would be accomplished through a simple mandate that each community would be allowed to consume a maximum amount of potable water--a figure determined in part by the municipality's population and historic use.
Simple enough, right? But for Tucson and other desert towns with a bad golf-course jones, that meant either sacrificing the greens or finding an alternate source of irrigation.
At the time, reclaimed water--your basic filtered and chlorinated sewage water--simply didn't enter into the Arizona Water Resource Department's calculations.
But clever city bureaucrats realized early on that gray water, as it's frequently euphemized, was a seemingly limitless resource, one that could be delivered efficiently and inexpensively via a system of pipes that already existed in many areas.
Soon golf courses in Tucson were sporting shiny new signs warning the indigenous duffers and others not to drink from the sprinkler heads. The experiment worked. The greens were never greener.
Meanwhile, Lakeside was setting records for the number of youths fishing there. At a time when serious money was--and still is, for that matter--being spent on providing activities to keep youngsters off drugs and away from gangs, a 1990 Arizona Game and Fish Department survey of urban fishing sites found Lakeside Lake was easily the most frequently visited lake in the state when it came to young anglers.
Unfortunately, also that year a decision was made to add reclaimed water to the Lakeside mix, according to official reports.
"When reclaimed water was introduced, higher nutrient levels, especially phosphorous, were recorded," one government report noted. "Presumably these additional nutrients, along with the heat, day-length and light intensity of mid-June, encouraged an algae bloom which raised the pH level of the lake water."
In late June, 1990, barely a month after the first reclaimed water was pumped into Lakeside from the sewage treatment plant, officials were forced to suspend stocking the state's premier urban fishery due to a pH level of 10.2--enough to kill fish.
In the spring of 1992, the lake's pH rocketed to 10.6, a record high for an urban fishery, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Unfortunately, no one tested the water before the last trout-stocking truck backed up, and by the time this once-happy task was done nearly all the fish were already belly-up.
In May 1992, Game and Fish was desperately trying to save the lake by adding a copper-based chemical called Cutrine-Plus. In theory it kills the algae. And by that winter, the city had installed an aerator.
Tucson Weekly first discovered sulfuric acid was added to the lake when a reporter secured an inter-office memo detailing an April 27, 1992, meeting between Game and Fish and city parks officials.
The memo noted Parks Director Jim Ronstadt "stated Tucson Parks and Recreation had a solution to the high pH problems and were injecting sulfuric acid into the inflow pipe where reclaimed water is being added to Lakeside."
By May 19, 1992, Bill Watt, then director of the state's urban fisheries, wrote Steve McCusker, of Tucson's Parks Department: "Discontinue the addition of sulfuric acid...Total alkalinity (CaCO3) at Lakeside is 168.4 parts per million. At this value, it would take huge amounts of acid to bring about a significant change in pH. Once the end point was reached, the lake is likely to rapidly become acidic. Also, a permit is necessary to discharge acid into waters of the U.S., and I don't believe the city has one."
Watt pointed out in his letter that it's well known even small amounts of sulfuric acid can be harmful, and in some cases fatal, to certain aquatic organisms. Watt also informed the city, that "the discharge of acid...without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit is a violation of the Clean Water Act."
On June 18 of the same year, Forest Woodwick, of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, also registered his concern, noting, "Discharge of sulfuric acid into Lakeside Lake Park is not allowable under narrative water quality standards. A.A.C. R18-11-108 states, 'Navigable waters shall be free from pollutants in amounts or combinations that are toxic to humans, animals, plants or other organisms.' "
THE CITY DID not have a NPDES permit. But that was no big deal, according to Tucson Water spokesman Mitch Basefsy, who maintains no NPDES permit was necessary to discharge acid into Lakeside before 1997.
When asked about the use of sulfuric acid, Ronstadt told The Weekly in a letter: "In 1992, an effort was made to control algae at Lakeside Lake by lowering the pH. Discussions were held with Mr. Bill Watt, then director of the Urban Fisheries Program of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The decision was made to try reducing pH through injection of small amounts of sulfuric acid into the lake's water inlet pipe.
Though Ronstadt's letter to The Weekly seems to imply the addition of sulfuric acid was a joint-agency decision, in yet another document, dated June 9, 1992--and procured through the Arizona Public Records Law--Ronstadt wrote Game and Fish Director Duane Shroufe, saying, "I have reviewed the summary that you sent of our meeting held April 27, 1992, and feel that they fairly present the discussions we had."
In other words, Ronstadt had reviewed the same memo quoted earlier, which stated it was the Parks Department's solution to the high pH problem to add the sulfuric acid--a move which prompted the flurry of letters from Game and Fish and ADEQ.
"Early estimates for the amount of sulfuric acid actually put into the lake were 35-40 gallons. However, further research revealed that only 10-15 gallons of sulfuric acid had entered the lake," Ronstadt explained, adding, "The acid was to be pumped from a 55-gallon container. From the onset we encountered difficulties with the pumping system."
Somehow, according to Ronstadt, there was a 20-30 gallon discrepancy in measuring the amount of acid delivered from a single 55-gallon container.
He also confirmed sulfuric acid is no longer being added to the lake:
"The pH readings from other areas of the lake were not any lower than before the injection. Therefore, a decision was made to abandon this project."
It's unknown exactly when the addition of sulfuric acid ceased. In addition, it seems no public warnings were issued about the addition of this potentially dangerous chemical.
As if lacing the lake with a highly corrosive chemical and treated sewage weren't enough, the Parks Department added Cutrine Plus and K-Tea (copper-based algaecides) as well. The total amount of these compounds added to Lakeside from May 1992 to July 1993, according to official Parks Department documents, was 344 gallons. By contrast, Silverbell Lake received only 32.5 gallons during the same period--far less than the maximum dose Lakeside received on any given day. For example, on July 16, 1993, more than 50 gallons of algaecide were dumped into Lakeside.
And regardless of the potential impact on an unsuspecting public, it appears the city brewmeisters were reluctant to discuss their little exercise, according to additional documents procured by The Weekly through the Arizona Public Records Law.
For example, there's this from the minutes of the April 27, 1992, meeting between Tucson Parks Department officials and those of Game and Fish: "Ronstadt expressed concern about [Game and Fish's] future conversations with the media, and Shroufe guaranteed that his people would not be talking to the media about the Lakeside issue without prior coordination with Tucson Parks and Recreation."
And Eric Swanson, current Urban Fisheries Manager for Game and Fish, wrote in 1994: "Further communication with the media will be coordinated with Tucson Parks and Recreation, and future press releases regarding the Urban Fishing Program will be conducted jointly." Swanson then explained, "The intent of this item is to improve interagency...communications and coordination by advising each other of any communications with the media...."
Yes, for God's sake, let's get our stories straight.
SO HOW WELL has the experiment worked? According to a Game and Fish report: "On August 13, 1995, a monsoon storm created substantial runoff flows in Attabury Wash that filled Lakeside Lake and spilled water from the lake. A large fish kill occurred that included bluegill, largemouth bass, catfish and crappie."
According to one source, who wishes to remain anonymous, nearly every fish in the lake died that day, and the pH problem continues.
In the meantime, this high-school chemistry experiment gone awry continues. On February 19, Tucson Parks workers "added 10 packs of lake colorant, for algae control," according to that day's "Lakeside Report." On both March 3 and March 18, 10 more packs of dye were added to the lake. By March 25, that same internal report indicated, 20 packs of dye were added; and the next week, on March 31, 28 packs were required to control the algae.
Meanwhile, due to a recent revision in laws governing regulated waterways adopted by ADEQ, city officials are finally applying for a NPDES permit for the use of reclaimed water in Lakeside Lake, according to Tucson Water officials.
They may be in for a disappointment, however. Pumping the same treated sewage in Lakeside will not comply with NPDES mandated standards, according to several state authorities.
And filling the lake with a combination of tap water and gray water probably won't meet the new standards, they warn, due the fact that Tucson is now adding chlorine to its drinking water. That, combined with the much higher chlorine levels in gray water, means additional purification would be necessary before the water winds up in Lakeside Lake.
All of which leaves us with a simple observation:
What has crawled out Lakeside's primordial ooze is the sickening fact that City of Tucson officials apparently were not only willing to jeopardize the future of Lakeside Lake, but the very future of the youngsters whom they enticed to fish there.

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