PORT ANGELES — Four months of city water restrictions ended Wednesday after rainfall had doubled the flow rate of the Elwha River compared with that of August.
Forks, however, continues to have mandatory restrictions. It is the only municipality in the state that still has such restrictions, Dan Partridge, Ecology communications manager, said Wednesday.
The City Council unanimously decided Tuesday night to lift Stage 3 limits that allowed outdoor watering on odd-numbered dates for odd-numbered addresses and on even-numbered dates for even-numbered addresses.
Also lifted were restrictions on nonessential water uses such as the noncommercial washing of vehicles, trailers and boats without using a hose with a shutoff nozzle.
But Port Angeles might face similar drought-related issues next summer, Partridge warned.
“I would say that the forecast for snowpack and winter temperatures and for water supplies is such that we certainly are making preparations for another drought year,” he said Wednesday.
Partridge said Forks continues to have mandatory restrictions because it relies on groundwater wells for drinking water.
The restrictions include a ban on commercial and residential lawn watering.
Restrictions in Forks could be lifted by next week because two storms in August and September stabilized water levels, City Attorney Rod Fleck said.
The city continues to look for a deeper water source “so we can be prepared for years to come,” he added.
Port Angeles city staff recommended that restrictions should end after consulting with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the state departments of Fish and Wildlife and Ecology, said Public Works and Utilities Director Craig Fulton on Tuesday.
Fulton told council members that the Elwha River, from which the city draws its water, is flowing at 500 to 600 cubic feet per second.
It was coursing at 246 cfs on Aug. 5 — about one-quarter the river’s average at that time of year — when the council imposed Stage 3 restrictions.
Fulton has said all along that the city “absolutely” has enough drinking water in its reservoirs.
“We have about six days of supply,” he said Wednesday.
But the river was flowing in August at such a low rate that it compromised salmon habitat being replenished following the tear-down of the Glines Canyon and Elwha dams, finished in August 2014.
“There were low flows for habitat, the water was getting warmer and it was getting low oxygen content, and those three things together were creating a problem,” Fulton said.
The city is seeking alternate drinking water sources in preparation for 2016.
It also is reviewing the potential for drilling wells within the city to lessen impact on the river, Fulton said.
Planning also is underway to ease the impact of a 2016 drought on Nippon Paper Industries USA, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, all of which receive Elwha River water through the city’s industrial pipeline.
The city will be seeking a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build up with 3-foot-by-3-foot gravel-filled bags an intake-structure weir, or dam, that stretches across the river.
Fulton said the blockage would increase the water level to guarantee it continues flowing into the pipeline while allowing salmon to continue passing through the weir on their way upstream.
“All I can say is, we’re preparing for the worst,” he said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
