It Stinks, It’s Slimy and It Stumps Those Seeking Solutions
By Steve Maynard, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Mar. 8–Something stinks at Federal Way’s Dumas Bay, and no one knows what to do about it.
The stench of rotting sea lettuce washed on the shoreline near Southwest Dash Point Road has been spreading to nearby homes for two years. It smells like rotten eggs.
The decaying vegetation piled up at least a foot thick last summer, preventing Helen Kutz from taking her walks on the rocky beach that she’s lived near for 30 years. The green sea lettuce, a form of seaweed, continued to accumulate and stink until the water and wind finally swept it away in December.
“It’s a slimy thing,” Kutz said. “That’s what makes it unpleasant to be down there walking.”
The smell first became a problem in the cove of Dumas Bay for a few weeks during the summer of 2005. It got worse last June, covering a mile of shoreline and extending 75 yards into the bay. The algae and smell didn’t go away for six months.
Jann Perez said the odor was “ghastly, disgusting” — like lots of unflushed toilets.
“We were very distressed,” said Perez, who lives near the beach. “We couldn’t open up the windows in our house.”
Residents complained to the City of Federal Way, which contacted various state agencies for help. Their employees met last week with a dozen homeowners.
“Something is dreadfully wrong,” said Kathy Filbert, who lives in Bayview Country Estates overlooking Dumas Bay. “You just don’t go from a normal beach to this in a year.”
The problem appears to be to an excess of nutrients, including nitrogen, in the bay, said Larry Altose, a spokesman with the state Department of Ecology. Tides dump the sea lettuce on the shallow beach. When it rots, it gives off hydrogen sulfide gas.
Altose said sources that increase nitrogen include overfertilizing, improperly maintained septic tanks and pet waste. The nearby Lakota Wastewater Treatment Plant discharges treated secondary wastewater a couple hundred feet off Dumas Bay. But the state says the wastewater plant is operating properly, Altose said.
“There’s nothing we can point to and say, ‘Ah-ha, that’s the cause,’” he said. “We are very concerned. We know that it’s very unpleasant.”
While sea lettuce is common at Puget Sound beaches, aggressive growth occurs less often. Fauntleroy, another shallow beach in West Seattle, also has battled the decaying seaweed.
Without a cause, officials aren’t sure how to stop the vegetation from proliferating and rotting again this year.
Many residents who live in homes on the beach front and with waterfront views want some state agency to resolve the problem.
“There’s no agency that steps up to the plate for humans,” Filbert said. “Everybody says it’s not their jurisdiction.”
She praises the city for trying to help.
Paul Bucich, Federal Way’s surface water manager, wants the Department of Ecology to take on the problem.
Dave Garland, a hydrogeologist with the state, responded, “I’m not sure we agree with Federal Way’s assessment that we should take some kind of lead.”
He said the Ecology Department is sampling water in the Sound and running tests at the treatment plant.
In the summer, the sea lettuce grows aggressively in the shallow bay, washes ashore and rots with more sun from the bay’s western exposure.
“It seems to be an ideal growing condition,” Bucich said.
He said some Federal Way-area residents have complained the smell has made them nauseous. Breathing hydrogen sulfide can cause headaches and blurred vision, he said.
The numbers of sand dollars and the size of eel grass beds appear to be diminishing where the sea lettuce has been thriving, Bucich said.
One potential solution is to remove it.
“We have issues with scraping the seaweed off the beach, especially dumping it somewhere in deeper water,” Garland said. “That’s just going to cause more seaweed growth.”
For now, the sea lettuce — and the smell — are gone from the beach.
“This is the best it will ever get,” Kutz said Wednesday as a gentle mist fell near her home. “It’s a wonderful beach.”
Sea lettuce
Latin name: Ulva
Origin: Native to Puget Sound beaches
Nutritional content: It’s healthful and can be eaten in salads and soups, and is a popular food in Scotland.
How to get it: Can be taken from beaches with a state permit.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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