BOATING

The Bellingham City Council is elected to represent the concerns of the citizens of the City of Bellingham and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the health, safety and general welfare of the public. In 2005, the Council passed Ordinance Number 2005-06-04 (PDF) which prohibits the use of carbureted two-stroke engines on the portion of Lake Whatcom in the city limits, effective January 1, 2006.

Lake Whatcom is the drinking water source for approximately half of the residents of Whatcom County and the vast majority of City of Bellingham residents. The City of Bellingham’s water monitoring has detected benzene, an element of petroleum hydrocarbon pollution, at the City’s Lake Whatcom intake pipe in warmer months, when there is an increase in boat activity. Additionally, water monitoring detects benzene in treated water at the same levels observed in the untreated water.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that benzene at any level poses a risk to health and therefore has set its “Maximum Contaminant Level Goal” for benzene at zero. Click here to visit EPA’s fact sheet on benzene.

In addition, scientific studies, such as “The Effects of Motorized Watercraft on Aquatic Systems” (PDF) by T.R. Asplund with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have demonstrated the negative impacts to aquatic organisms from the petroleum hydrocarbon pollution from boat engines in lakes. Specifically, carbureted two-stroke outboard motors have the largest percentage of unburned fuel passing through the engine into water, depositing 25-30% of unburned fuel to the lake.

Whatcom County has adopted Ordinance Number 2004-042 (PDF) which phases out the use of carbureted two-stroke engines on Lake Whatcom beginning in 2009. The ordinance was modeled after the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency boat engine ordinance.

For more information on the City’s ordinance, please contact: City of Bellingham, Environmental Resources Section, (360) 778-7900.