The cities of Port Angeles and Port Townsend have declared water shortages.
In response to continuously decreasing flows in the Elwha River, Port Angeles’ primary source of drinking water, and in accordance with city council action taken Aug. 19, City Manager Nathan West has declared a stage III water shortage. That means that the city’s water supplies are critically impacted and restrictions on outdoor water usage must be implemented.
Port Townsend has issued a voluntary water conservation notice to the community for households, businesses and industrial water use. The city of Port Townsend relies on precipitation in the Olympic Mountains to meet its municipal and industrial water needs.
Flow in the Big Quilcene River, its primary water source, is typically sustained by the snowpack through July. By early September, it is often necessary to utilize water from Lords Lake, a 500-million-gallon storage reservoir, when low stream flows limit water withdrawals from the rivers.
Dry conditions this year have accelerated depletion of the watershed snowpack. Drawdown of Lords Lake reservoir this year began Aug. 11, a few weeks earlier than in an average year.
Effective immediately, the following non-essential water uses are prohibited on all properties connected to Port Angeles’ water system, whether located inside or outside of Port Angeles:
• Washing sidewalks, walkways, driveways, parking lots, patios and other exterior paved areas by direct hosing, except as may be necessary to prevent or eliminate materials dangerous to public health and safety.
• Escape of water through breaks or leaks within the customer’s plumbing or private distribution system for any period of time beyond which such break or leak should reasonably have been discovered and corrected. It shall be presumed that a period of 48 hours after the customer discovers a leak or break or receives notice from the city of such leak or break, whichever occurs first, is a reasonable time in which to correct it.
• Non-commercial washing of privately owned motor vehicles, trailers and boats, except from a bucket or hose using a shutoff nozzle for quick rinses.
• Lawn sprinkling and irrigation which allows water to run off or overspray the lawn area. Every customer is deemed to have knowledge of and control over his or her lawn sprinkling and irrigation at all times.
• Sprinkling and irrigation of lawns, ground cover or other plants, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. or an odd-even rotation schedule. That means property addresses ending in odd numbers are permitted to sprinkle on odd-numbered days, and property addresses ending in even numbers are permitted to sprinkle on even-numbered days.
Additional guidance may be provided in the days ahead.
While precipitation may minimize reservoir drawdown at times, the city of Port Townsend is asking customers to voluntarily conserve water until fall rains replenish flow in the rivers.
The Port Townsend Paper Company uses a large proportion of the water supply and has implemented a number of additional conservation measures to reduce water consumption. Should the Lords Lake Reservoir empty, the mill will be required to curtail operations or shut down.
In Port Angeles, Stage III is triggered when conditions have worsened and the demand on the water supply must be reduced. Flows in the Elwha River have remained below 300 cubic feet per second (CFS) for the last five days.
For more information on Port Angeles’ water shortage response plan and conservation, contact the city’s Public Works & Utilities Department at 360-417-4800 or go to www.cityofpa.us/1424/Water-Shortage-Response-Plan.
