Water balloon fights aren’t all fun and games


I’m concerned about the damaging effects of water balloons being thrown into Westlake Lake during the Fourth of July celebration.

Westlake Management Association rules clearly state it is prohibited to “launch or throw objects including water or water balloons.” Yet this water-balloon activity has become out of control, littering and polluting the lake and waterways that it feeds, and endangering wildlife.

When lake management is questioned, we’re told there will be maintenance workers with nets scooping up the plastic debris. But this isn’t the case.

Lake workers are overwhelmed with large crowds, disabled boats and general safety issues. They don’t have the staffing to provide clean-up during the peak activities, and even if they had an army of workers with nets, there’s no way they could clean up such a massive amount of balloon pollution as it occurs. The damage is done.

Rubber-balloon debris litters the water, banks, flows down to the marina and over the dam, polluting waterways downstream, finally making its way to the ocean. When ingested by wildlife, balloons cause a slow, painful death and suffocation.

There’s no enforcement July 4, no asking people to stop littering, no citations and no fines.

Our city has plaques on every drain warning about pollution running to the ocean or to the lake. Yet every year on the Fourth we allow people to litter and dump massive amount of rubber into Westlake Lake.

Sadly, people are so caught up on how “fun” it is that they’re completely deprived of judgement and are morally unattached to the damage that each bit of balloon poses.

Even if the balloons were biodegradable, which the majority are not, they still cause the same harmful effects to our lakes/wildlife for the months and even years until they degrade.

We’re urging WLMA to educate residents ahead of time, enforce their rules, and have consequences set in place.

It’s time to do the right thing. It’s time to stop polluting the lake, the watersheds downstream and endangering wildlife on the Fourth, or any day for that matter.

Louann Lightfoot
Westlake Village