PORT ANGELES — Work is on schedule to bring plentiful water to parched residents in the upper Fairview Water District by Aug. 1 after Clallam County Public Utility District commissioners declared an emergency to speed the process.
PUD commissioners voted 2-0 Monday to declare a water emergency so they can award no-bid contracts for the project as needed.
Commissioners Will Purser and Ted Simpson voted to approve the emergency resolution. Commissioner Hugh Haffner was absent from the meeting.
The $47,000 contract for electrical equipment to power water pumps was expected to be awarded to Straits Electric of Port Angeles as soon as it could be finalized, said Mike Kitz, PUD water and wastewater system superintendent.
Straits Electric has done similar work for the PUD in the past and has the materials and skills the PUD needs, Kitz said.
The project is on schedule to provide water via a temporary water pipeline to 566 water customers by the Aug. 1 deadline set by state departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife, said Doug Nass, the PUD’s general manager.
If the PUD went through the usual bidding process, it would not have met the deadline, Nass said.
Outdoor water use
Outdoor water use has been banned for upper Fairview customers since June 10.
The Stage 4 restrictions imposed by Ecology were based on the rapidly falling Morse Creek, which, until mid-June when wells began servicing the lower district, was the primary water supply for about 1,300 customers in the district.
Morse Creek’s flow had fallen to about 22.5 cubic feet per second by Monday, according to the Ecology creek flow monitoring station.
When the creek’s flow slows to 25 cfs, the district can no longer draw water from the water diversion above Morse Creek Falls to protect fish, the state says.
As per an agreement with Ecology that allows continued use of the creek until the pump system is working, the PUD has diverted about 100 gallons per minute from the stream in the upper creek and added about 200 gallons per minute of well water into the lower reaches of the creek, Kitz said.
Lighter restrictions
As soon as water from the lower system begins pumping to the High Line reservoir and water from the creek is cut off, customers in upper Fairview Water District will revert to Stage 3 water restrictions, allowing outdoor water use every other day.
Once the temporary system has stabilized, additional reductions in water restrictions will be considered, Kitz said.
The temporary reverse pumping system, estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, would reverse the flow in the piping system originally designed to bring water from Morse Creek to about 750 lower Fairview customers.
Sine June, lower Fairview customers have received water from two new wells that took 10 years and cost $8 million.
The PUD’s plan is to pump water from the new wells first to the Deer Park Reservoir, then to the higher-elevation Township Line Reservoir to serve customers in the upper district.
Nass said the early estimate for a permanent new pump and pipe system is about $10 million. It would take at least a year or two to construct.
In winter, when Morse Creek flows are high, upper Fairview would revert to using the creek as its primary water source because pumping increases the cost of water.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
