Pe Ell's water supply dwindles

By Sharon Michael, The Chronicle, 11/23/98

PE ELL - Town officials are keeping a close watch this morning on official weather forecasts, the muddy Chehalis River and the diminishing water level in the city's 500,000-gallon reservoir.

The town is still under a state Health Department boil water order issued in April.

But Mayor John Penberth is concerned that Pe Ell residents may soon not have any municipal water to boil.

Saturday, the reservoir held 175,000 gallons. By Sunday it was down to less than 100,000 gallons, and Penberth is worried about what will happen today with school in session.

Lester Creek is the town's primary water source. During the summer, when Lester Creek runs low, the town pumps from the Chehalis River. But during the rainy season, the river turns muddy, making it difficult to treat to state standards in the existing plant, which is now being upgraded.

Last week, with the Chehalis River intake plugged with silt, the town switched to a small, portable gas-operated pump, and the mayor asked residents to conserve domestic water use.

Town employees and volunteers monitor the pump during the day to make sure it doesn't get plugged with debris or run out of gas. But at night the pump is shut down, and the town draws its water from the reservoir.

A month ago, the town council declared an official emergency when contract engineers determined the antiquated wood stave water line used to carry raw water from Lester Creek Dam to the treatment plant would not last until 2003, the year it was scheduled for replacement.

''It's not a good thing to be relying on the Chehalis River through the winter,'' Art Griffith, Gray & Osborne engineer, warned the town council in October. ''Even after improvements (to the water treatment plant), we may not be able to treat it to standards.''

Griffith also cautioned the council that floating debris washed into the river by rainwater runoff could damage the town's water pumps.

While Penberth worked to secure the $150,000 needed to replace the Lester Creek water

line, Griffith's dire predictions became reality.

Penberth got on the telephone to elected officials this morning, again begging for money to fix the town's water system. He has even appealed to the military for help. But so far, he has been unsuccessful.

The mayor said he requested a Marine construction battalion stationed at Fort Lewis be assigned to provide the labor to replace the Lester Creek line. Materials on hand for other projects could be used on the project, Penberth added.

But he acknowledges that Griffith is not happy with that alternative because the pipe on hand is not the type specified for the Lester Creek line replacement.

But Marines may be needed to reach the nearly inaccessible and deteriorating slope supporting the old water line. Much of the cost to replace the 1,800 foot of wood stave line comes from the cost of getting workers and materials to the site.

The line would have been replaced a long time ago were there reasonable access to the location, Penberth said.

Penberth hopes he will be able to find some help before the town uses up its dwindling water reserves. If the river goes down enough to allow town employees to get the regular pump back in operation, the town could get a short reprieve.

''I'm frustrated,'' he said Saturday. ''We can go through all kinds of Band-Aids, but we need this line fixed.''

The town is already $750,000 in debt for water and sewer system repairs, including nearly $300,000 in old debt for work done 20 to 30 years ago, Penberth told citizens at an October council meeting.

Water line and treatment plant repairs now in progress are being paid for by state Department of Ecology grants and loans. Most of the new water line work in town has been completed, and contractors are at work on plant repairs.

Although the water system became top priority with the issuance of the boil-water order, the town is also living with an Ecology-issued moratorium on new sewer hookups until plant capacity is increased.

Sharon Michael can be reached by e-mail at smichael@chronline.com or by calling 807-8237.

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