City’s water rights test results not as planned

Published 12:20 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – Testing of a well, slated to play a key component in the city’s quest to gain water rights, didn’t go as planned according to North Bend officials. Despite the news, city officials and consultants assigned to the task don’t anticipate the unexpected results to delay the process that could bring water to North Bend by late next year.

“[The testing] isn’t exactly how we thought it would turn out,” said Bob Anderson, an associate at Golder Associates, a Seattle-based ground engineering and consulting firm.

Anderson explained that the testing essentially was to discover if by pumping one aquifer it would affect another nearby. What the testing showed was that of the 10-million gallons pumped, less than 10 percent was stored in the aquifer – an underground water storage pocket – tested. The other 90 percent, according to Anderson, came from other nearby sources, which may be the river, existing wells or other sections of the aquifer. More information will be gathered by a computer model test performed next spring.

News of the test results came at the Dec. 16 City Council meeting, at which members unanimously approved a contract extension for Tom Pors, an attorney hired by North Bend to assist with the acquisition of water rights, at the cost of $82,000. The funds are expected to cover Pors’ services through April of 2005. Earlier this year the city received a $500,000 grant from the Department of Ecology (DOE) on behalf of the Governor’s Office for its pursuit of water rights.

North Bend has been in a self-imposed water moratorium since 1999, when it voluntarily halted construction projects within city limits that required water after it was discovered officials had been using the wrong formulas to calculate its water usage. The new plan to bring water to the city entails North Bend essentially pumping water from the Snoqualmie River to be treated and sent out to its customers. That water would be supplemented with water pumped out of its own well or untreated water purchased from another source.

City officials are hoping to mitigate the water pumped from the river with well water as it would be less expensive.

Pors said although the city’s recent tests will briefly sidetrack the mitigation through well water aspect of the plan, a recent hurdle had been cleared in purchasing raw water from Seattle Public Utilities.

Legislation that was passed earlier this year cleared the way for North Bend to purchase water from other municipalities. Recently the DOE approved Seattle Public Utilities’ addition of the city to its water rights certificate, Pors said, paving the way for the sale of water to North Bend. An expected deal, likely to take place in the neighborhood of three years, is in the works for North Bend to purchase water from the utility’s Cedar River Watershed.

The city will continue to work with DOE to discover what improvements or adjustments can be made to the well for mitigation use, Pors said.

Despite the unexpected test results, Pors said the DOE has given the plan to buy water from Seattle Public Utilities for mitigation and pump water from the Snoqualmie River a “preliminary nod of approval,” and he expects it to be officially signed off on by late June.

Anderson said the goal remains to mitigate the water pumped from the river with water taken from the well.

“I still believe the overall concept will work,” said Anderson.

The water rights plan in progress is expected to cover the city’s water needs for the next 50 years.

Travis Peterson can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at travis.peterson@valleyrecord.com.