The Cascade Water Alliance has decided on a combination of chemical and manual efforts in the fight against milfoil in Lake Tapps.

The work is scheduled to get under way in late July or early August.

The water purveyor announced the plan May 11 at the second of three informational meetings at North Tapps Middle School.

According to Harry Gibbons, a consultant for Tetra Tech, the firm hired by Cascade, the plan is to use the herbicide Fluridone over the next two years followed by three more years of manual follow-up in an attempt to rid the lake of Eurasian Milfoil, an invasive species of plant that is choking the beaches and coves of Lake Tapps.

According to Gibbons, the first year of the process will be the “most intensive,” but Fluridone was selected because the chemical is not dangerous to humans or animals.

There will be no restrictions on swimming, fishing, drinking or on pets that live around the lake.

After the initial dosing of the lake, Casacde will monitor the lake and re-dose if necessary.

Additional chemical treatments are planned for the second year, but then the focus will switch to manual eradication of the plants.