Letter by Janice Vocke

I am writing in opposition to the proposed Sewer Lagoon on Webb Hill in Mason County.

We live on Lake Leprechaun and I feel our water quality is at risk from this project, as well as all of Lake Limerick and Cranberry Lake. We have lived here at Lake Leprechaun on 1.3 acres of Lake Leprechaun waterfront for 15 years, and in Mason County for 32 years. Our property is a National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat and it a beautiful and very peaceful place for us to swim, canoe, and enjoy living here, enjoy nature, and having our children and their families visit.

One of our sons lives and works on Cranberry Lake. My husband and I volunteer at Cranberry Lake working to help preserve that unique, pristine place. My husband recently was awarded "Volunteer Of The Year for 2017" by Cranberry Lake's Board. Cranberry Lake is over 800 acres of pristine beautiful natural beauty and is a nature preserve. People come from all over our state to study nature there. Environmental classes and studies are done there. Groups range from young children, to the elderly. A boardwalk system has been constructed there and they are trying to make that part handicap accessible. Groups range from school children, to scout groups and 4-H groups, to public nature walks, to Audubon Society groups, to groups from universities. Last summer there was a university group there for 2 weeks studying Cranberry Lake. At times there are classes and workshops offered to the public. I have taken some of those classes myself. At one day-long workshop of classes we studied lake plants and weeds and we were taking samples from Cranberry Lake at different levels of the lake, then studying them, identifying them and drawing them. One of my samples from Cranberry Lake caused quite a stir among the educators there: I was confused as to what it was. It looked like a miniature Razor Clam. Yet this was a freshwater lake I got it out of. One of the instructors exclaimed that it was a type of freshwater mussel that they thought was extinct!! We quickly and very gently lowered it back into the lake. Then marveled that we had been privileged to see such a rarity amongst nature! Water quality is a big part of what makes Cranberry Lake special. It must be preserved.

The proposed 18.2 million gallon sewage containment lagoon that is being considered for a site on Webb Hill should not have even been considered for approval. In the event of an emergency, such as flooding and excessive rain or snow, the effluent discharge of sewage from the 18 million gallon sewage lagoon would be directed to flow down a drainage and into Cranberry Lake. Cranberry Lake is the sole source of water for the entire Lake Limerick community, and the entire reason Lake Limerick itself exists. In 1966, engineers with the Army Corps of Engineers built a dam on Cranberry Creek, an outflow channel from Cranberry Lake, to construct the Lake Limerick community and the lake itself. Lake Limerick’s entire drinking water originally comes from Cranberry Lake, and then flows down through a small stretch of Cranberry Creek before it reaches Lake Limerick just one quarter of a mile from the Lake Limerick Clubhouse. Two restaurants and a golf clubhouse, plus over 1,500 homes, are served by the waters of Cranberry Lake. So an emergency like the one described above would render approximately 1,500 homes unlivable and result in the entire livelihood of our community irreparably damaged. It would destroy the health of the two lakes in which hundreds swim in each summer, and destroy recreational fishing in one of the county’s finest man-made lakes, as well as our little Lake Leprechaun.

Events like the flooding I have described have happened before here in Mason County, about 10 years ago, and they will happen again. I believe the question isn't "IF", but "WHEN?". Since science shows us climate change is occurring, we will have wetter winters and that means that the risk is even greater for that retention lake to overflow, sending a veritable river of sewage downhill. That would result in a huge area of Mason County being polluted.

Our natural environment, water quality, and wildlife are at risk from this sewage lagoon. Also the economic livelihood of the Lake Limerick community is at risk, as well. Plus our quality of life are at risk, as well. The risks are far too great. My family want to be able to depend on these lakes being clean and unpolluted by fecal waste for generations to come.

Please stop this project now. Otherwise, I feel it is just a matter of time before this becomes a tragedy. Not IF, but WHEN ...

Sincerely,
Janice Vocke
P.O. Box 1664
Shelton, WA. 98584