By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Local public officials want to lid our open water reservoirs, but the question is, what kind of cover is best: hard, soft or none at all?

In the months since the Sept. 11 attacks, a proposal to cover the City's 11 water reservoirs has generated considerable attention, even though the state-mandated plan has been on the agenda for years.

Last fall, the City Council passed a resolution stating that the City would cover eight reservoirs with polypropylene lids (similar to the material used to cover swimming pools), no later than 2005 at a cost of $77 million.

North Seattle has water reservoirs in Bitter Lake, View Ridge, Roosevelt and Maple Leaf, with the latter two remaining uncovered. The View Ridge reservoir is an underground facility and Bitter Lake was recently given a polypropylene cover.

The City's plans to cover the Maple Leaf and Roosevelt reservoirs has generated concern from several North Seattleites, including Nancy Belcher, a Maple Leaf resident and former biology professor at Seattle Pacific University, who believes the action is unnecessary.

Belcher said chlorine in the water takes care of any bacterial contamination. She added that contaminating Seattle's water supply via the reservoirs isn't a real threat to the public since it would take an entire truck load of toxins to do the job.

Seattle Fire Department Chief Gary Morris agrees.

"You'd literally have to drive in a semi-truck full (of contaminant)," Morris said. "It would probably be filtered out anyway."

But according to Susan Stoltzfus, spokeswoman for Seattle Public Utilities, the covers are not only a precautionary measure against contamination. Lids also block out sunlight, inhibiting the growth of algae with can affect the smell and taste of drinking water. Stoltzfus also said that lids keep the chlorine in the water from dissipating into the air.

Belcher counters Stolzfus's statements by saying: "For all the (Seattle Public Utilities) establishment knows - by covering the reservoir you will enhance mold growth - dark places are great for mold." Belcher believes soft covers will only blight the landscape and the money would be better spent on more advanced filtration systems. She's taking her message to the people, recently speaking at the Maple Leaf Community Council and the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition.

The debate over filters has another dimension: soft lids vs. hard. Mayor Greg Nickels recently introduced legislation to the City Council to cover seven reservoirs with hard lids rather than soft - essentially burying the reservoirs to create more park land.

While the total cost for hard lids would be higher - about $235 million for the program, Nickels believes it would be cheaper over the short term because the expense (and work) would be spaced out over 10 years.

Nickels hopes the council can vote on his proposal within the next two months. "(Hard covers are) an extremely expensive way to get some open space," said Belcher. "And by the way, it is already open space, just not accessible."

It appears covering those inner-city pools won't sit well with some other locals as well. "The blue space is very important," said Bill Phillips, a Maple Leaf resident who spoke up at a recent community council meeting. "(The reservoir) really is a jewel in the middle of the community."

For more information, go to www.cityofseattle.net/util/reservoirs or call the Mayor's office at 684-4000.