About the lake

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Recently there have been a number of questions regarding the health of Palmer Lake, and this overview will hopefully answer your questions.

Palmer Lake existed as a small swampy body of water for many years before the community was developed. As part of developing what is now known as Palmer Lake Beach Club (PLBC), the lake was improved and the ability to add water from a well owned by PLBC was also added. Palmer Lake is the private property owned by PLBC, and under the Covenants and Bylaws of PLBC, it exists for the benefit of the owners of lots in Plat 1 and 2 of Palmer Lake subdivision. The owners are called members, and only owners can be members. Today the lake has an average depth of 20’, and a surface area of 13.64 acres. A detailed lake basin analysis has been posted to the “The HOA” tab of this website for download.

In the late 1990’s, the drainage swale that connected an overflow drain pipe from the lake, into a private property at the south end of the lake became inoperable – because the swale became filled in. The property is now owned by a different owner, but during that time, the County considered enforcement action against that previous owner but ultimately declined to do so. This resulted in the lake not draining and becoming stagnant, and algae forming.

Algae forms under specific conditions. Slow or stagnant water (algae is rarely present in streams and rivers in significant concentrations) is the first general condition. Then you need nutrients, such as run-off from septic fields and lawns, excessive vegetation that decomposes, fish, duck and other wildlife excrement for the algae to grow on. Third, you need lower oxygen levels in the water. When all three of these factors exist, you get algae.

A couple of good web videos on this topic are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj59ouOEgyEand 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdbOqCa41c&t=132s

In the years that followed the lack of drainage in the lake, algae began to build up, and the County (Tacoma Pierce County Health Department – TPCHD) through its testing program would close the lake occasionally due to the presence of toxic algae. Through these years, the number of times the lake would close in the summer slowly increased, and the maximum was approximately 7 times. And even if the lake did not close, the murkiness and level of non-toxic algae was unpleasant.

Over these years, PLBC treated the lake to reduce vegetation growth, and this improved lake water quality, but did not eliminate the algae issues and the slow build up and increased closures. Each year, the HOA spent between $2,500 and $3,000 on lake treatment. 

In 2020, the Board of Directors of PLBC decided to take more aggressive action and rebuild the lake drainage system. This resulted in PLBC reaching agreement with the landowner on the south end of the lake, behind the PLBC offices, for an updated easement agreement. PLBC spent roughly $40,000 to install a new drainage system that went from the lake across the road, PLBC property and private property, for about 400’ that then drained down to little Palmer Lake, following the original drainage swale.

This new drain system had an immediate and dramatic improvement on lake health. Massive amounts of algae flowed out the drainage system and reduced the amount of algae in the lake. In 2022, the lake did not close once, and over the following years, while we received several algae caution notifications from TPCHD, we had almost no closures.

In 2023, our lake vegetation treatment company owner passed away, and we began to search for a replacement company. We were shocked to find that other companies were providing estimates of $12,000 - $20,000 per year to treat the lake. A massive increase that was not budgeted for. For reference, the annual cost increase of $17,000 at the high-end would mean a dues increase of $35.00 per year per lot. The Board, in it’s quest to be frugal, searched for other alternatives.

In 2024, the vegetation control treatment of the lake did not take place, due to cost. The Board was able to get a volunteer member who agreed to take the state training program, including testing, so that this volunteer could be a licensed applicator for PLBC, and we could just buy the treatment chemicals we had traditionally used, dropping our cost to the membership to less than $1,000 per year. You must be a licensed applicator to purchase the chemicals by state law. This member took training but ultimately did not pass the test (July 23rd, 2025) and then declined to move forward.  Because we now don’t have a licensed applicator, we are working on the backup plan to bring in a company to treat the lake. Moving forward we have two new volunteers, but it will take time to get them certified. So now the Board is looking at immediate actions to be taken.

The way to control algae is to get water moving, reduce the nutrients, and increase the oxygen level in the water. The Board is focused on the lowest cost methods to accomplish this control, in order of priority:

Getting the water moving! 

Today, we inject water at the south end of the lake during the summer, to keep the lake at the correct level. A controlled amount of this water continuously goes out the drain line, taking algae with it. But the drain is also at the south end of the lake, so there is less flow “across” the lake. PLBC has rough quotes to relocate the water injection system to the north beach, to increase the flow across the lake, and drive out more algae. Since we already pump the water, the cost is roughly $12,000 to $15,000 (route pipes across the lake bottom, install a “splash pad) at the north beach). This is a one-time cost, with little or no maintenance.

Reducing the nutrients!

We need to quickly treat to reduce the vegetation in the lake and potentially use direct methods to reduce the algae. We have a two-track plan for this – find an immediate treatment company until our new volunteers are licensed and treat immediately then transition to our new volunteers in 2026. We are soliciting proposals on an emergency basis to get the lake treated, but it will come at a higher-than-budgeted cost. We are also looking at some species of fish that eat vegetation, but there are some government agencies who note the increased excrement from these fish feeds algae, and some cannot survive in our cooler water temperatures.

Increasing the oxygen level!

If steps one and two do not dramatically reduce the algae, we may be forced to move to step three, which is installing continuously running air compressor systems on the north and south beaches to inject air into the water. This involves running underground electrical to a concrete pad, mounting compressors, and placing air lines in the lake to “bubblers” which will bubble air into the lake. We have quotes for $22,000 per compressor, not including power, concrete pad and security covers. Total cost is estimated to be more than $60,000, which is a dues assessment of roughly $120.00 per PLBC member. Compressors, since they will initially run almost continuously, and then will run for only certain hours per day, have a limited life span and will need to be replaced every few years and maintained. Using compressors will create a permanent and ongoing cost to the HOA and its members. Board and staff are researching to see if we can reduce the cost of these compressor systems and may have reduced cost estimates in the future.

There has been some commentary regarding using solar powered floating fountains to aerate the lake. Most literature notes that fountains do not work well in water depths over a few feet, they tend to oxygenate only the upper stratification of the water, and at our average 20’ depth would be ineffective.

Some members have advocated immediately installing compressors. The Board is concerned that this skips important steps one and two and is wasteful spending. Also, this level of expenditure would deplete almost half the PLBC cash reserve and would require a substantial dues increase in 2026 to replenish the funds. The membership would have to approve this expenditure, and dues increase in the October of 2025 or March of 2026 general member meetings. The Board does not have the authority to spend these funds without a vote of the general membership.

Your volunteer Board believes that we should proceed with steps in the order noted above, to be fiscally responsible with your money. We recognize that we would like to have an immediate resolution, but this is a tough problem and requires a lot of time and effort to resolve, as we have noted above.  The Board will provide regular updates to this issue from time to time as we make progress, and of course you are free to come to the monthly Board meetings to ask questions as well.