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Companies Fined After Mud Flows into Lake; Developer, Contractor Penalized $24,000 for Erosion Violation

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

A developer and a contractor from Portland have been fined $24,000 for allowing muddy sediment to flow from a subdivision construction site in Camas into Lacamas Lake during a spate of unusually soggy weather last August.

The state Department of Ecology issued the penalty Tuesday to Bedrock Excavation and Construction and Ralston Investments, both of Portland. The companies are now nearing completion of the Lakeridge subdivision north of the intersection of Northwest Jackson and Lake roads in Camas.

State officials said they issued the fine because the companies failed to adequately control erosion.

Under the provisions of a stormwater prevention permit issued for the project, the developer was supposed to construct ponds to hold back stormwater and silt fences to prevent muddy water from leaving the site. According to the penalty notice, sediment-laden water overflowed the pond and discharged into Lacamas Lake by way of an unnamed creek.

The incident occurred within a six-day period, Aug. 21-25, when 2.78 inches of rain was measured at the wastewater treatment plant in Camas.

Representatives of both companies did not return calls Wednesday from The Columbian.

Investigators for the Department of Ecology learned about the runoff from an employee of Clark County, which had managed about $3.5 million worth of grants between 1988 and 2001 to restore Lacamas Lake. Bob Hutton, a county water resource specialist who worked on the restoration initiative, said he spotted the mud sloughing onto Lake Road and into the lake while driving home.

Hutton said the lake is already suffering from an overabundance of nutrients, which harms fish and other aquatic life.

"Any additional impacts on the lake could potentially push the lake over the edge," he said.

The county, using grants from the state Department of Ecology, had worked with agricultural landowners to install improvements designed to minimize livestock waste from entering streams that drain into Lacamas Lake. Hutton said landowners contributed money and effort to build off-channel watering, more than 21 miles of fencing and stream crossings. The initiative also included public outreach and education, as well as water-quality monitoring.

The mudflow last summer represented a setback, and state officials said their penalty emphasizes the seriousness with which Ecology views such violations. The city of Camas issued a stop-work order last year until the developer installed adequate stormwater controls.

"When developers fail to control erosion and stormwater, they degrade the natural environment that attracts people to live here in the first place," Monte Brachmann, public works director for the city of Camas, said in a prepared statement. "Everyone involved in construction activity needs to know that they can get fined for failing to protect our streams and lakes."

Source: Columbian

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