DUNGENESS — Septic pollution may force all of Dungeness Bay to be closed to commercial shellfishing in 2003.
Valerie Wilson, associate planner with the Clallam County Department of Natural Resources, said Monday the closure “is a very real possibility.”
Wilson’s assertion came after county commissioners were chided at their meeting Monday for not filling a grant-funded position to oversee monitoring of 134 septic systems considered to be “of concern” on three streams flowing into the Dungeness River and Dungeness Bay.
Lyn Muench, representing the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, told commissioners that the critical position should have been filled before 12 of the 18 months allotted for the grant had expired.
“How long is it going to take to get up to speed?” Muench asked.
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