City balks at PUD water plan

By Barney Burke
of The Leader

Port Townsend, WA - 3/25/09 - Jefferson County's Public Utility District wants to find out if the Chimacum Valley's aquifer can be restored by piping in water from the Big Quilcene and Little Quilcene rivers — the same source that supplies the City of Port Townsend with water.

The proposed study received only a trickle of support from the City Council at the start of a March 23 joint meeting with PUD commissioners, but both groups agreed to take another look if the scope of the study is broadened to address the city's concerns.

"Water for agriculture is what the study is all about," said Bill Graham, the PUD's water manager. "Agriculture is basically dead in the Chimacum Valley."

"It's the only surface water left for any appropriation" to landowners, although there are some groundwater options, Graham said. The "in-stream flow rules" being promulgated by the Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) are intended to conserve water resources, but for many property owners, it means they can't drill a well or even water their yards.

Using a DOE grant, the PUD is looking at the possibility of drawing water from the city's water source — over and above the city's water right — and piping it via the city's Olympic Gravity Water System, eventually injecting it into the aquifer. Later, the theory goes, that water would recharge streams and aquifers in the area.

Having spent 10 years and $300,000 to renew its federal water rights permit, city officials presented a laundry list of concerns with the study as well as its potential consequences. The city's two biggest concerns are jeopardizing its water permit, and effects on its aging and under-capitalized water supply line.

City Manager David Timmons suggested that the city and PUD ought to be talking about why there's a water shortage in the first place. The study, he said, isn't broad enough to address the city's concerns about long-term water policy.

"We're not opposed to the study," Timmons said, but concerns such as the eventual replacement of the city's water supply line have to be considered.

"The underlying cause of this [water shortage] is land-use decisions that have been made [by the county]," said Timmons, implying that there isn't enough water to support the conversion of land from pure agriculture to rural development.

"Land use is a county thing," said Ken McMillan, a PUD commissioner. He and fellow PUD Commissioners Wayne King and Dana Roberts said the PUD is looking 50 years or more into the future.

The city, PUD, tribes and others are all part of Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 17, a water planning board involved with the in-stream flow rules. The study was recommended by WRIA 17, the PUD commissioners said, and the PUD offered to take on the study on behalf of WRIA 17.

Bob LaCroix, water operations manager for the city, said the aquifer storage and recharge, or ASR, idea was proposed to the city 10 years ago.

"It seems kind of nuts to me," said LaCroix "There's other ways to store water" Injecting river water into aquifers can cause a chemical reaction that damages the aquifer, he said, wihch is not a problem with conventional reservoirs. He also doubted the injected water would seep out of the aquifer in the summer, as desired for salmon benefit.

"We don't have to supply water to support agriculture in Chimacum Valley," said LaCroix. "That's real neighborly, Bob," said King.

Later, Councilor Catherine Robinson said that if the city is going to allow the study to go forward — piping some water through its pipeline for the study — the interests of city residents and taxpayers must be taken into account.

"We represent the whole county whether the city likes it or not," said King. "We know, we pay you," answered Mayor Michelle Sandoval, referencing the PUD's property tax levy.

"How many of you have read this?" asked King, waving a consultant's report on the first part of the study. "None of you!"

"I don't see it as 'no'," Sandoval responded. She said the city and the PUD, and maybe Jefferson County, need to work out all the challenges of water planning.

Sandoval asked if the water — should it ever get to Chimacum Valley — would be set aside for agriculture or allocated to other land uses? Earlier in the meeting, Graham had said that the water could not be restricted to agriculture, although it would be an "interruptible" water right, junior to the city's water right.

It's also unclear who might provide the water if the PUD completes the study. Graham said a separate irrigation district is one possibility, and Roberts said, "We don't anticipate being in the irrigation business.

"Committing to this study should not obligate the city to participate further," Roberts said. By the end of the meeting, both groups expressed a hope that they can agree on a revised scope so the study could go forward.