By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Tom Hollowed and his family have owned their home on the edge of Bitter Lake for nearly four years. In fact, Hollowed says, his property, like some of their neighbors' lots, actually extends on to the lake's floor. While Hollowed uses the lake, even rowing his kids to school on it, he sees it threatened by pollution from a surprising source: rain water.

According to Hollowed, the problem is essentially caused by paving, which prevents storm water from draining directly into the soil. Rain water, which falls on to our streets and yards can quickly become polluted storm water runoff, picking up pesticides, petroleum residues, and other pollutants in its path. The runoff, with chemicals in tow, has to drain into something to prevent flooding, and in North Seattle, that something is often Bitter Lake and Haller Lake.

Hollowed's personal interest in Bitter Lake led him to form the Seattle Lakes Alliance, a North Seattle-based environmental group, last year. He enlisted former King County Council member Brian Derdowski to help organize the group.

With the help of a King County WaterWork's grant, the 32nd District Democrats, and various local community councils, Seattle Lakes Alliance prepared a report, completed last summer, detailing pollution problems in Bitter Lake. Two drain pipes, one on the north end of the lake coming from Greenwood Avenue and N. 137th Street, and the other from Wingard Court on the northeast side were linked to unhealthy levels of petroleum-related pollutants present in the lake.

While the report says there is no imminent danger to human health, it does warn that part of the lake is not suitable for swimming or fishing due to an oily sheen on part of the lake's surface. The report also notes that there is an ecological risk to Bitter Lake.

"Urban livability is dependent on healthy ecosystems," said Derdowski, who is serving as an adviser to the Seattle Lakes Alliance. " Green belts we take for granted provide wildlife habitat and clean water in lakes and streams."

Hollowed is concerned about the impact of polluted runoff on the lake's wildlife, especially because people still eat trout caught in Bitter Lake.

"It's like a chemical cocktail hitting the fish right in the face," Hollowed said.

Some Haller Lake area residents have similar plans for testing their local lake. Barbara Gross, who has lived in the Haller Lake neighborhood for over 45 years, says the lake has also experienced oily sheens and that she sometimes sees an oily residue on Haller Lake's shoreline. Gross, like Hollowed, fears that more paving in the area will increase the problem.

"The lake just doesn't need more untreated run-off, " Gross said.

Gross says the Haller Lake Conservation Association is also hoping to receive a WaterWorks grant to study the water quality of Haller Lake. In addition, she said that Haller Lake Conservation Association members are putting up some of their own money for the study.

Hollowed says there are several ways in which pollution form storm water could be addressed. One measure would be to build sand filtration systems which would filter the water before it goes into the lakes. Hollowed also advocates placing rain barrels at the bottom of down spouts to catch storm water, pointing out that this "gray" water can be reused around the house for almost anything other than drinking and bathing.

While some local residents have formed firm ideas about the pollution problems in Seattle lakes and how to fix them, Seattle Public Utilities is only beginning to look at the issue, said Terry Kakida, a planning and project manager with the City department.

"Historically, our role as a utility has been flood control," said Kakida. "Now we're taking on water quality."

Kakida says that while Seattle Public Utilities isn't yet sure what the water quality issues in Seattle lakes are, much less the solutions to those issues, one problem-solving approach might be to encourage Seattleites to use fewer chemicals and plant more to reduce run-off.

In the mean time, Hollowed says he's trying to lessen is personal impact on Bitter Lake by tearing up his drive way and and planting cedar trees and native plants on his property. He has actually purchased a jack hammer to he can loan it to neighbors when he's done. While these small changes may help Bitter Lake, Hollowed sees storm water runoff as a much more far-reaching issue.

"This is all our lakes," Hollowed said, "this is Puget Sound." (