Water line gets a friend

The following article appeared in the March 11, 2006 Jefferson County edition of the Peninsula Daily News.

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Water line gets a friend
Marrowstone Isle project endorsed by Ecology official

By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News

NORDLAND — Jefferson County Public Utillity District leaders were heartened Wednesday by one high-ranking Department of Ecology official who voiced support for the PUD's effort to extend service to water-needy Marrowstone Island.

In correspondence Wednesday with PUD Commissioner Wayne King of Gardiner, Joe Stohr, special assistant to state Ecology Director Jay Manning, reiterated Ecology's support of the project to install about 5 miles of pipeline to connect PUD's water system to the island.

"We have been on the public record before in terms of getting water out to Marrowstone," said Stohr, who was in Port Hadlock on Tuesday for a meeting of the Quilcene-Snow Watershed Resource Inventory Area 17 planning unit.

That is good news to two of the three PUD commissioners facing a final legal hurdle: a Jefferson hearing examiner shoreline permit hearing Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the county commissioners chambers in the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St.

The hearing will address construction within 200 feet of the shore, along state Highway 116 and near Mystery Bay State Park.

King said Stohr's remark shows "there's nothing at Ecology to hold up this project."

King added: "It just makes us feel a little more comfortable that we're on track here. I am sure we're going to put pipes in the ground this year."

Backhoes will be used to dig small trenches, which will be immediately filled back in," said King.

Reassurance of support means a lot to PUD Commissioner Kelly Hays, a Marrowstone Island resident who hauls thousands of gallons a month from PUD's filling station in Port Hadlock on a slow, 14-mile round trip.

Water pipes damaged

He hauls water for several households, including one family of three that uses 100 gallons a day.

For that family, Hays said, it is not a matter of quantity, it's a matter of quality.

Salt from saltwater intrusion has eaten through their home's water pipes.

About 100 wells of the estimated 500 on Marrowstone Island are either dry or contaminated by saltwater intrusion.

As proposed, PUD'sd Marrowstone water line would branch out from a Flagler Road backbone. The lines will be extended to the county roads, which are easily reached from Flagler Road — Griffith Point Road, for example.

The project would be complete after lines are installed on all county roads not already constructed and on private roads that involve easements.

PUD officials have had wetlands delineated on the island where the pipeline will run.

PUD built a water reservoir to also provide water to Fort Flagler State Park during fire and as a back up to Marrowstone residents in case of a water shortage.

The project would bring water to about 300 homes on the island.

PUD officials reapplied for county and state permits after prevailing over a lawsuit filed by a group of residents opposing the project.

The Marrowstone Island water project was recently endorsed by two of Jefferson County's three state lawmakers, Rep. Lynn Kessler and Sen. Jim Hargrove, both Hoquiam Democrats.

Port Townsend/Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.