Water Resources Advisory Board

Executive Summary

The Water Resources Advisory Board held its June 2025 meeting focused primarily on a detailed presentation and tour of the Academy Street Stormwater Facility, a partnership project between the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County. This $1.17 million facility represents both the complexities of inter-jurisdictional cooperation and the technical challenges of Lake Whatcom watershed protection. Storm and Surface Water Manager Jason Porter provided an extensive background on the facility, which began as a vision in 2013 when a lakefront residential property came up for sale. The project exemplifies the long-term commitment required for stormwater infrastructure, taking over a decade from initial conception to full operational status. The meeting highlighted significant lessons learned from the facility's troubled initial construction in 2015, which required an additional $420,000 in modifications after operations revealed multiple design flaws. The facility now successfully treats runoff from over 100 acres of mixed land use, removing an estimated 40 pounds of phosphorus annually from water entering Lake Whatcom. The presentation served as both an educational tour for board members and a case study in adaptive management, demonstrating how initial failures can lead to innovative solutions and improved inter-agency cooperation.

Key Decisions & Actions

No formal votes were taken during this meeting. The only action was unanimous approval of the March 2025 meeting minutes, which included presentations on Lake Whatcom monitoring, water system planning, nutrient reduction evaluation, and utility financial information. The meeting was primarily educational, with no agenda bills or formal decision items presented to the board.

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Notable Quotes

**Jason Porter, on inter-agency cooperation:** "It was a really one of the more cooperative agreements that I've experienced with the county. They really stepped up with this they hired great consultants, and they wanted this facility to work it just. It shows a strong commitment from the county." **Jason Porter, on project timelines:** "When we do these stormwater projects, you know, we call them capital projects. That's what we own the city want to maintain them. It's about 4 years, maybe even 5 years of planning to get a project going." **Jason Porter, on design philosophy:** "If our metric is, how many are we building? They could meet that metric. But it isn't. The metric we use is how much phosphorus are we removing." **Jason Porter, on climate adaptation:** "We are planning in our stormwater facilities, at least for the city, to be able to make simple modifications for them... having facilities that incorporate design, features that allow us to make modifications and adjust to them is climate adaptation." **Jason Porter, on treatment media:** "Think of fancy dirt! It's fancy dirt that filters it that's got all sorts of fancy components in it." **Jason Porter, on maintenance challenges:** "Think of trying to factor out a creek while it's flowing and clean it out. There was. This essentially, was the volume of a small screen."