Lake Fenwick (Lake)

Lake Fenwick lies in King County, Washington, mostly inside the city of Kent, and it runs long and narrow from north to south [1]. Its 580-acre watershed sits almost entirely on the west side, and the lake is 31 feet deep where it goes deepest but averages 13 feet overall [1]. The water has carried problems for years [1]. Nutrient levels are high enough that the lake is borderline eutrophic, and the balance of nitrogen to phosphorus favors cyanobacteria, which can turn toxic inside algal blooms [1]. High levels of algal toxins turned up in water testing in August 2018, which brought a closure and warnings at Lake Fenwick Park, and the same thing happened again in October 2019 [1]. Egeria densa, also called Brazilian elodea, has taken hold in numbers there; the state of Washington labels it a noxious weed, and its thick mats damage the ecosystem, pull water quality down and get in the way of recreation [1]. The Fenwick name also belongs to a line of fishing rods, and that company started in 1952 in a garage on the lake's shore [1].