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Woahink - A Lake in the Balance?

By Mark Chandler and John Stead 

Woahink Lake Association and 

Dunes City Water Quality Control Committee

reprint courtesy of Oregon Lake Association - LAKEWISE March 2007

Woahink Lake is an 820-acre dunal lake located on the central Oregon coast, 3 miles south of Florence. Most of it is located within the 3 1/4 square mile area of Dunes City. Its 14 miles of shoreline is 85 percent privately owned, with Honeyman State Park fronting on the balance.' Lake water is used for domestic, livestock, recreational, wildlife, fish life,2 municipal, and park purposes.3

Water Availability        In 1992, new water availability standards became effective,4 limiting Woahink Lake water use to human consumption5 during April, and June through November6 for existing water right permit holders and all new permit applicants. These new standards discouraged out-of-compliance residents from requesting authorization to use water and delayed watershed urbanization. Ten years later, a citizen complained to the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) of unauthorized water use in Dunes City. This problem was solved when 0WRD agreed that the municipality could sub-allocate its 1968 water right permit to out-of­compliance residents.7  This solution also made water available for new residential development, and between May and August of 2005 Dunes City, with a population of fewer than 1,400 residents, received six applications for a total of 87 new lots.

Urbanization and Water Quality     Urbanization will continue to impair Woahink Lake's water quality. The Coastal Lakes Watershed Analysis (1999) stated, "Woahink Lake is probably more susceptible to changes in water quality than any other lake in the watershed," and, "The most pressing threat to water quality is the amount of development occurring around the lake."8 Oregon Lake Watch (2000) cautioned that Woahink's continued high sediment loading and input from septic tank drain fields will lead to the degradation of water quality.9 Oregon's Department of Land Conservation and Development and its Department of Environmental Quality jointly stated in 2000, "It is no longer possible to ignore the connection between urban development and degraded water quality." l0 Well-known limnologist, Douglas Larson, has been expressing his concern for increasing impacts to Woahink Lake for over 30 years.

The Monitoring Process     Adequate monitoring is essential in order to quantify these concerns in a meaningful way. The first regular monitoring of Woahink was done by Bob Anderson under the Lake Watch program through Portland State University beginning in 1989. Bob recorded Secchi readings, temperature, and dissolved oxygen levels until he left the area in 2003.

At about this time, amid rising concern and involvement of residents, Dunes City followed up on a Comprehensive Plan mandate to form a Water Quality Control Committee. This committee has addressed a number of issues including securing a limited budget from the city to carry out an enhanced volunteer monitoring program that includes both Woahink and Siltcoos Lakes. Siltcoos Lake is immediately downstream of Woahink and is on the DEQ 303(d) list of water bodies that do not meet water quality standards because of the presence of weeds and algae. With support from the Oregon DEQ Volunteer Monitoring Program, testing for pH, nutrients, chlorophyll-a and limited sampling for bacteria levels were added to the monitoring parameters.

As new data was accumulated and correlated with intermittent data from previous studies, a trend of rising nutrient levels was indicated. The increasing phosphorus levels are of particular concern, as this nutrient is the limiting factor in the proliferation of algae and aquatic weeds.11 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed a set of reference criteria for nutrients. These criteria refer to levels that indicate lakes "minimally impacted by human activities and protective of aquatic life and recreational uses."12 For lakes of Western Oregon the level is 7.1 micrograms per liter for total phosphorus. Woahink Lake has not had a reading below that level since 2001, and averages 13.4 from the 17 samples obtained since then. The 2006 average was 16.0 based on 6 samples. These concentrations are much higher than the 0.004 mg/L of total phosphorus listed for Woahink Lake in the Atlas of Oregon Lakes (1985), and so justifies the specific recognition of Woahink Lake in the Estuaries and Clean Water Act (2000).13

As if right on cue, unprecedented and troublesome algal blooms occurred during the springs of 2005 and 2006 in Woahink Lake. While toxic species have not been detected, many residents supplemented their drinking water during these periods since the odor and taste could not be adequately removed by filtration or other treatment.

Watchful Waiting is Not a Satisfactory Option    Needless to say, these, algal blooms brought on a greater concern among residents and precipitated the adoption of a 120-day moratorium on the acceptance of new applications for development during the summer of 2006.14 Since that time the city has established relations with government agencies dealing with land use issues, identified areas of existing local code needing revision, created and implemented an ordinance requiring regular inspections of septic systems,15 and is developing ordinances to address phosphorus inputs from cleaning products and fertilizers, as well as more rigorous erosion control, and storm water management.     

The warning signs for the cultural eutrophication of Woahink Lake have been sounding loud and clear. A tireless group of volunteer residents and city officials are now in the "catch up" mode, struggling with the predicted impacts of increasing development and a history of a lack of enforcement of local code. Time will tell whether these efforts will be rewarded.  

¹ Oregon Lakes Association, Woahink Lake (www.oregonlakes.org/gallery).  

² OAR 690-518-0010(1)(a).

³ OAR 690-518-0020(1).

⁴ OAR 690-400-0010(11)(b).

⁵  “Human consumption” means the use of water for the purposes of drinking, cooking, & sanitation. OAR 690-300-0100(24).

⁶  Detailed Report of the Water Availability Calculation, Woahink Ck > Siltcoos R at mouth, Watershed ID# 517, Exceed. Lvl.: 80.

⁷ Oregon Water Rights, DSL Easements, & Woahink Lake ” Lake Wise , March 2006, pg 3.

⁸  Coastal Lakes Watershed Analysis, prepared by Siuslaw National Forest staff, Mapleton, 1999, pgs 46-47.

⁹  Sytsma, Mark & Carrie Haag, Oregon Lake Watch 2000 Final Report, pg 10.

¹⁰ Oreg. Dept. of Land Conservation & Development, and Oreg. DEQ, Water Quality Model Code & Guidebook, 2000

¹¹ Experimental Lakes Area Research Unit, Univ. Manitoba, www.umanitoba.ca/institutes/fisheries/eutro.html

¹² US EPA, Ambient Water Quality Criteria Recommendations, Ecoregion II, 2000, pgs 19 & v.

¹³ ECWA of 2000, SEC. 702 DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM, Title VII – Clean Lakes, Section 314(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 USC 1324d) is amended – (1) in paragraph (2) by inserting … Woahink Lake, Oregon; … [pp 21]

¹⁴ Dunes City (www.dunescity.com) City Business, Ordinance 181 & Moratorium Findings of Fact. [FOF-A]  [FOF-B]

¹⁵ Dunes City (www.dunescity.com) City Business, Ordinance 173.  [also see Ordinance 203]

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