Threats to the Lake
Threats to Soap Lake include:
Irrigation canals leak water, pesticides, and herbicides into the lake. Interceptor wells were installed to attempt to mitigate this problem. More in the video below.
Road drainage. Vehicles and stormwater send toxic metals and chemicals into the lake when this toxic water is not diverted to sewers leading to water treatment plants.
Pesticides and herbicides used in gardens and farms around the lake
Motorcraft always leak oils, fuel, and other chemicals into the water
Vehicles driving and parking within 50' of the Ordinary High Water Mark is illegal without an exemption permit granted by the City or County. Driving and parking on beaches near shorelines cannot take place. Vehicles leak chemicals such as oil, gasoline, and brake fluid, and they deposit additional toxic debris such as metals, plastics, and rubber from brake pads, tires, and other parts of the vehicle.
Human litter and lotions. Plastic bottles, flip flops, food wrappers, and every imaginable type of litter is found in the lake on occasion. Suntan lotion and other lotions also alter the chemistry of the lake and can kill the specialized organisms that live in the lake. A similar problem is happening in the ocean near reefs, with suntan lotions killing corals.
Fireworks debris
Animal feces. The lake is accustomed to waterfowl using the lake, however, we must clean up after our pets and refrain from using the lake as our toilet while soaking too.
Alteration of shorelines and the 50' riparian buffer located immediately upland of the Ordinary High Water Mark is illegal. Only under extremely rare circumstances would a permit be granted to allow such activity. Developers and visitors must be aware of any damage to vegetation or the soil is not allowed in this region. This region provides wildlife habitat and a healthy ecosystem, acts as a buffer against flooding events, and the area belongs to the state as a region that is preserved against any destruction.
Natural Springs, although very few, dilute the lake with fresh water, which reduces the mineral concentration
(click on photo to read the full 1965 document)
A few excerpts from the document are below
(page 3)
“STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This matter comes before the United States Congress upon the petition of the City of Soap Lake, Washington, urgently requesting it to remedy a situation, caused by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia Basin Project, that will deprive many people of medicinal treatment found nowhere else and that will cause the economic collapse of its city.
The problem complained of is primarily the result of seepage waters entering Soap Lake from the Bureau’s irrigation project and, secondarily, the manner in which the Bureau has been disposing of this seepage water once it enters Soap Lake.
The extent of the volume of seepage into Soap Lake is indicated by the fact that the level of the lake would have risen over 20 feet during the period of 1953-1955. To control the level of the lake, the Bureau has pumped from the surface waters. This might be considered the immediate problem since, in pumping from the lake, the Bureau has removed over 500,000 tons of minerals from the lake, which contains only 860 acres. “
(page 13)
“On February 18, 1955, residents of Soap Lake were shocked by an article appearing in the Spokane Chronicle written by reporter W. Newland Reilly which stated "Soap Lake is doomed to become a fresh water pond". Mr. Reilly continued in his report of a meeting of the Columbia Basin Commission held February 17, 1955, in which Robert H. Russell, Deputy Supervisor of the Water Resources Division of the State Department of Conservation and Development informed the Commission that it was only a matter of time until the mineralized content of Soap Lake would be reduced to that of freshwater. He stated that the major factors contributing to this were:
I. Rain and snow
2 Water percolating through the rock from the Equalizing Reservoir in the upper Grand Coulee;
3. Leakage from the huge irrigation siphon which crosses the lower coulee on the North short of Soap Lake;
4. Leakage from irrigation canals east and west of Soap Lake, and
5. Drainage from irrigated land within the Soap Lake depression. “
This article below brings how the salinity of Soap Lake may affect bacteria in the water. The importance of maintaining adequate salinity. In spite of what has been lost the last several hundred years due to the extraction of minerals, mud, and water from the first discovery of its soothing healing qualities (by man and beast alike).
Salty water causes some freshwater harmful algae to release toxins
U.S. Geological Survey website article (link to article’s page opens in a new tab. Article below is the same information)
Release Date: OCTOBER 18, 2018
USGS study of Lake Okeechobee algae gives new insight on South Florida coastal blooms
A new U.S. Geological Survey laboratory study of two potentially toxic types of freshwater cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, found that exposure to salty water can damage the cyanobacteria cells’ walls, causing them to release their toxins into the water. The finding suggests that understanding the mixing of fresh and salt water, which takes place in many coastal water bodies around the world, will help researchers understand the toxic effects of these harmful algal blooms.
In this microscopic image the potentially toxic cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa have been exposed to a green stain in fresh water (0 practical salinity units). The green stain doesn’t enter the cells, which show up in red. Credit: Barry H. Rosen, USGS. Public domain.
“Our findings open up the possibility that water managers may eventually be able to help reduce the algal toxins reaching coastal waters by manipulating water salinity,” said USGS biologist Barry H. Rosen, an expert on freshwater algae and the lead author of the study. “This is especially true in places where freshwater flows are managed by a network of pumps and canals. In Holland, for example, water managers are using impoundments as a way to control salinity levels and manage harmful algal blooms.”
The cyanobacteria tested came from Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, where freshwater cyanobacteria have been linked to harmful algal blooms occurring at least as far back as 1986. The naturally-occurring algae can develop into large blooms, fueled by phosphorus and other nutrients from farms and developed lands, and can release toxins that harm wildlife and humans.
The lake is connected by canals to downstream brackish- and saltwater estuaries, such as the Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s southeast coast. A persistent freshwater harmful algal bloom occurred on Lake Okeechobee and the Indian River in 2016, and another one is taking place this year.
“When these freshwater algae get exposed to certain levels of salinity, their cell walls weaken, and the toxin they contain leaks out,” said Rosen. “The point where the mixing of fresh and saltwater reaches that critical level where damage begins to occur will vary, depending on factors like the tides and the freshwater flow in the canals.”
In this image the same potentially toxic cyanobacteria, Microcystis aeruginosa, have been exposed to the same stain, but this time in water half as salty as seawater (18 practical salinity units). The cell walls are breaking down and the stain has penetrated them, turning the colony green. Credit: Barry H. Rosen, USGS. Public domain.
After state water quality samples taken in 2016 showed that cyanobacteria from Lake Okeechobee or the canals connected to it were probably being transported downstream to the St. Lucie Estuary and the Indian River Lagoon, USGS experts decided to investigate how contact with brackish water affects two cyanobacteria species commonly found in those blooms. Scientists have long suspected that saltwater kills freshwater cyanobacteria. Rosen wanted to find out how quickly these particular toxic cyanobacteria died, what level of salinity killed them, and what happened to the cells -- and the toxins they contain -- before they di
In July 2017, the USGS scientists collected water samples from Eagle Bay on Lake Okeechobee’s north shore. In the laboratory, the researchers found the Lake Okeechobee water had plentiful amounts of a common toxin-producing cyanobacteria called Microcystis aeruginosa. The samples contained smaller amounts of another potentially harmful species, Dolichospermum circinale. The researchers split the water samples into batches and exposed them to different levels of salinity for at least four days.
The team found that at levels about one-half as salty as seawater, Microcystis aeruginosa cell walls began to weaken and leak their toxin, called microcystin. The cell walls of Dolichospermum circinale began to leak at levels about one-fourth the salinity of seawater. Most Microcystis aeruginosa died after four days’ exposure to high levels of salinity.
The red tide along the Southwest Florida coast is dominated by a salt-tolerant harmful algal species that was not examined in this study. A USGS Scientific Investigations Report on the study is available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185092
