PORT ANGELES — After viewing the plan for removing the Elwha River dams, the City Council reluctantly approved an agreement that will guide the project and provide clean water for the city and nearby residents.
Now the “memorandum of understanding,” as the document is called, goes to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and National Park Service for approval.
The parties will gather for a signing ceremony that will also include Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, at 10 a.m. Friday at Port Angeles City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
The 20-page document details the roles of the city, tribe and park in the design, permitting, construction, operation and maintenance of municipal and industrial water treatment plants for the city and a water pipeline to the tribe’s hatchery.
The water treatment plants and pipeline are necessary to ensure water quality after removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River begins in 2007.
City Attorney Bill Bloor said the 1992 Elwha River Restoration Act describes the goal of removing the Elwha River dams.
The “memorandum” is the road map to achieve that goal.
