Oct. 11 Daily News editorial

Six drownings in our community this past summer — four of them in the fast-moving Columbia and Cowlitz rivers — revived talk about the need for safe swimming alternatives. But, as has happened most years, the talk seemed to subside as the weather cooled. Until the Oct. 1 meeting of the Longview City Council, when Councilwoman Mary Jane Melink wondered aloud why people couldn’t swim in Lake Sacajawea.

The question has created a lot of buzz in the community, pro and con. We tend to be on the pro side of at least exploring what would have to be done to open a portion of the lake to swimmers, what it would cost. Almost any cost might be prohibitive at this time, but we like the idea enough to want to learn more about the particulars.

A lot of people in this community recoil at the notion of swimming in Lake Sacajawea. Daily News reporter Amy M.E. Fischer wrote that a couple of council members expressed disgust with idea at the time Melink raised it. Their poor assessment of Lake Sacajawea’s water quality is shared by many in the community, and it’s understandable, given the lake’s history. Lake Sacajawea was created from a slough more than eight decades ago. Fischer reported in a 2006 article on the lake’s water quality that, by the 1970s, the lake was in danger of turning into a severely polluted bog. In 1973, the city made it illegal to swim or even wade in the lake.

But the city dramatically improved the water quality at Lake Sacajawea in the late 1970s, dredging the lake’s bottom, removing weeds and diverting storm-water runoff from more than 96 percent of the watershed around the lake. Councilman Dennis Weber noted at the Oct. 1 meeting, the water at Lake Sacajawea was so clear by 1980 that the bottom was visible. It didn’t stay that clear for long, of course, but the water quality remained good.

In 2006, The Daily News had water samples from the lake tested, expecting a bad report. The report was surprisingly good. Health officials found bacterial counts to be well within levels considered safe for swimming. A Daily News photographer pulled a trout and a bass from the lake that same year. They were tested for lead and mercury, and test found extremely low levels of both metals.

This is not to say the lake is ready for swimmers. A lot more testing and other work would have to be done to prepare a portion of Lake Sacajawea for swimmers. It might be costly — probably too costly to pursue now and, maybe, ever. But we applaud city officials for having staff look into the particulars of creating a swimming hole at the lake. We like the idea of people frolicking in Lake Sacajawea on hot summer days. It would provide that safer alternative to swimming in the Columbia or Cowlitz rivers and, in our view, add significantly to this community’s quality of life.