PORT TOWNSEND — The City Council will discuss lifting water restrictions when it meets Monday.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 540 Water St.
“There is plenty of water,” said Ken Clow, the city’s public works director.
“All the levels are up, the rivers are full and more rain is forecast.”
The council approved the first stage of water restrictions on Aug. 3.
The restrictions require residents to water their lawns only on alternate days that correspond to their addresses.
Odd- or even-numbered street addressed were required to water on corresponding odd- or even-numbered calendar dates.
While the restrictions are still in place, they are not currently enforced, Clow said.
The council on Monday will consider an ordinance to repeal water conservation measures.
Quilcene’s Lords Lake reservoir, which provides the city’s backup water supply, is at 19 feet 9 inches, Clow said Thursday. That’s up from its lowest level of 8 feet 5 inches in November.
Stage 2 would have kicked in if Lords Lake’s level fell to 3 feet.
That would have required the Port Townsend Paper Company mill — the biggest user of city water at 10 million to 15 million gallons daily and the county’s largest private employer with 298 workers — to shut down or vastly curtail its water use.
Stage 3 would have required water rationing.
The latest numbers show that the city is using about 700,000 gallons daily while the mill is using about 11 million, Clow said.
Looking ahead, Clow and City Manager David Timmons said they would closely observe water levels in the spring and early summer to better prepare for a drought situation that could take place next summer.
“We’ll see what next year looks like,” Timmons said.
“If we don’t get a snowpack, we will face similar issues.”
One solution, Timmons said, could be to pre-emptively channel more water into the Lords Lake reservoir.
When the water restrictions were enacted, the city was using just over 1 million gallons daily.
Conservation measures brought that down to about 700,000 gallons per day, which is the usual winter level.
The mill also enacted several water conservation and recycling measures to reach its lowest level of use at about 10 million gallons daily.
Kevin Scott, Port Townsend Paper Corp’s director of sustainability, was not available for comment on Thursday afternoon.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
