By Brian Mittge, 6/12/2001, The Chronicle
Lewis County commissioners had to laugh when a water shortage was the topic on Monday's rainy morning, but the issue was serious.
In their role as the Board of Health, commissioners heard from state and county officials that recent rainfall is unlikely to make much of a dent in what promises to be a dangerously dry summer.
An average spring rainfall hasn't made up for a very dry winter, although it will help, said county water specialist Sue Kennedy.
"What may be a crisis in July might be pushed off till August and September," partly because people aren't watering their lawns, she said.
"Surface" water sources such as springs, rivers, creeks and wells less than 100 feet deep are the first to suffer in a drought, Kennedy noted.
"I'm already getting calls of springs going dry," she said.
Fully 56 percent of Lewis County's 69,000 residents receive their water from shallow wells or their equivalent, she said.
Many of those are from municipal water systems that have backup drought plans, but at least 17 percent "really aren't prepared," she said.
The Board of Health agreed to convene a summit of water system operators, from tiny local systems to small-town purification plants, and large municipal systems in Chehalis and Centralia.
It will also put together a drought plan to provide pure drinking water if things do get worse this summer.
One possibility would be to provide "water points" where rural residents could pick up clean water, but Kennedy said the sheer size of the county would make this plan difficult.
Another chilling complication is that droughts often run in two-year cycles.
"We could be in for the long haul," Kennedy said.
Even if fall brings normal rainfall again, it might take two years just to recharge lakes and other water storage areas, she explained.
Commissioner Richard Graham noted that the city of Chehalis, which normally takes drinking water from the Newaukum River, also has water rights in the Chehalis River. He wondered if the Department of Ecology will allow the city to take water from the ailing river during the hottest, driest summer months.
Rich Hoey, a contract engineer with the Department of Health, said the DOE would have 15 days to let Chehalis know one way or another.
"This is right when National Frozen Foods is in its biggest season. These are just questions; nobody has the answers," Graham said.
For information about conservation and alternate water supplies, telephone the county's Drought Information Line at 740-1460 or 1-800-562-6130 extension 1460.
For information about the Pacific Northwest drought, visit www.drought.wsu.edu, a Web site established by Washington State University's College of Agriculture and Home Economics.
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Brian Mittge covers local government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at bmittge@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8237.
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