# Nitrogen Crisis Looms Over Lake Whatcom as City Confronts Unprecedented Wastewater Upgrade The Water Resources Advisory Board met September 24, 2024, to confront a daunting reality: the City of Bellingham faces potentially the largest capital investment in its history to remove nitrogen from wastewater at Post Point, with costs that could approach half a billion dollars and reshape how residents think about utility rates. ## Meeting Overview The evening meeting at Pacific Street Operations drew board members into a complex technical discussion that began with algae blooms in Puget Sound and ended with projections of massive construction projects stretching into the 2040s. With consultants Tadd Giesbrecht and Anne Conklin from Carollo Engineers leading the presentation, the session marked the start of what will likely be years of difficult decisions about how to balance environmental protection with financial reality. The agenda also included updates on stormwater management and the Lake Whatcom five-year work plan, but the nitrogen discussion dominated, consuming most of the meeting's hour and a half. Board members present included Brett Beaupain, Benjamin Cairns, Rick Eggerth, Martin Kjelstad, Kirsten McDade, Fiona McNair, John Peppel, Laura Weiss, and Francesca White, along with city staff from various departments. ## The Nitrogen Challenge: From Ocean to Treatment Plant Anne Conklin opened the technical presentation by explaining why nitrogen matters in the first place. In marine environments like Puget Sound, nitrogen acts as the limiting nutrient that feeds algal blooms. When those algae die and decompose, they consume dissolved oxygen in the water, creating dead zones that stress fish populations. "The vast majority is from environmental sources, like the Pacific Ocean or rivers, or atmospheric deposition," Conklin explained, showing that wastewater treatment plants contribute less than 10% of the total nitrogen load in Puget Sound. But that 10% represents the portion that engineers can actually control. The Washington State Department of Ecology has been studying this issue for two decades, documenting dissolved oxygen depletion across Puget Sound. Maps from 2006, 2008, and 2014 showed purple and orange areas where dissolved oxygen fell below standards for weeks at a time, primarily in southern Puget Sound. Bellingham Bay appeared relatively healthy by comparison, showing up in yellow and orange zones indicating only occasional problems. …