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Lake Whatcom is a drinking source for over 100,000 county residents within Whatcom county and the Bellingham area. this means that the water that residents in Bellingham drink comes directly out of Lake Whatcom. in 1998, the lake was placed on Washington's list of polluted bodies of water. This is a problem because residents in the Bellingham area were getting polluted water out of the lake. Cleaning up the lake is a on going process that's been occurring since the discovery of pollutions in the water.
The pollution in the lake was caused from phosphorus and bacteria. Phosphorus is a poisonous, combustible nonmetal that exists in two common allotropic forms, white phosphorus, a yellowish waxy solid that ignites spontaneously in air and glows in the dark, and red phosphorus, a less reactive form used in making matches. Excess amounts of phosphorus contribute to diminished oxygen levels in lake water. Naturally occurring in soil, phosphorus also is a major ingredient in fertilizers. Phosphorus can leach into waterbodies from soil erosion and from lawns and yards when it rains. Too much phosphorus causes rapid growth of plants and algae that compete with salmon and other fish for oxygen. Bacteria is a member of a large group of unicellular microorganisms that have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized nucleus, including some that can cause disease.
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To Find out More:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article22261131.html
https://www.cob.org/services/environment/lake-whatcom/pages/metals.aspx