Low mountain snowpack now could put a drain on Jefferson County utilities this summer.
In East Jefferson County, that means the threat of higher power rates. It also means water conservation during the driest time of year should drought persist.
In Port Townsend, low water supplies caused by low snowpack and precipitation have been known to temporarily curtail water-dependent production at Port Townsend Paper Corp.’s mill.
The mill, Jefferson County’s largest private employer, consumes about 10 times the water used by Port Townsend’s entire residential and commercial population, city officials say.
Still, representatives of Puget Sound Energy, the city of Port Townsend and Port Townsend Paper remain optimistic that winter is not over, and more snow can fall in the Olympics.
Lower elevations
In the lower elevations, they still see the prospect of steady rainfalls replenishing and maintaining a healthy and abundant water supply.
“It’s not a time to panic,” said Kenneth Clow, city public works director.
“It’s just a time to be aware of the situation, and be looking ahead and making plans.”
While he plans to approach city leaders about the potential for water problems, he says past experience shows that peak snowpack can often come in March.
The city of Port Townsend’s two largest reservoirs — Lords Lake near Quilcene and City Lake near Discovery Bay — store 500 million gallons and 120 million gallons, respectively.
The waters of the Big Quilcene River, flowing out of the Olympics, is where the city’s water source originates.
“If we get rainfall then it’s not so much a problem,” Clow said.
He agrees that so far 2005 has resembled the dry years of 2001 and 2002, and periods during the early 1990s.
“Without any snowpack and rainfall, it will be a challenging summer,” Clow said.
If snowmelt and rainfall are below need this year, Clow said, “we will start managing our system accordingly.”
Where PT Paper comes in
That’s where Port Townsend Paper comes into the picture.
While the city of Port Townsend uses on average of just under 1 million gallons or water per day, the mill uses up to 14 million gallons daily at peak production, the public works official said.
Mill Manager Bruce McComas recalls a time two years ago when a depleting city water supply resulted in the mill shutting down its No. 1 market pulp machine for nine days.
McComas, who is hopeful that the snowpack will be restored this month and next, said the mill is keen on conserving water by renting a cooling tower that allows reuse of some water, “and pinching back as much as we can.”
Normally, he said, water shortage concerns do not actually arise until city reservoir levels begin to draw down.
Power concerns
More than just the Olympic Mountains snowpack is important to Jefferson County.
The snowpacks hundreds of miles away in the Cascade Mountains and smaller ranges of Eastern Washington and Oregon are important because up to 80 percent of the area’s power comes from reservoirs behind Columbia River dams in Eastern Washington.
Consequently, those snowpacks are inextricably linked to power rates on the Peninsula.
Most of Bonneville Power Administration’s power rate planning is based on probabilities and statistical models of historical snowpack, rainfall and streamflow data, officials said.
Officials with East Jefferson County’s chief power source, Puget Sound Energy, see a clear trend in low snowpacks and accompanying droughts in the Northwest.
As a result, Don McDaniel, PSE manager of government and community relations, said the company is going to more and more alternative energy sources such as coal, purchase power, natural gas generation, even wind power generation in Eastern Washington.
“This is nothing new. It’s been dry for a long long time,” said McDaniel.
“The snowpack has not been what it has been for many years now. It’s a continuing trend.”
Alternate trunk line
McDaniel said Puget Sound Energy now has an alternate power transmission feed into Jefferson County, adding redundancy in the event of an outage that will keep the lights on in Port Townsend and environs.
Said McDaniel: “We’re working very hard to keep a mix of generation of our own, so we don’t have to go out in this very volatile market.”
