By Mai Ling Slaughter, The Chronicle, 9/22/99
PE ELL - After a year of hard work by the town and its volunteers, Pe Ell's $2 million grant-loan package for a new water treatment plant is a reality.
News of the grant adds hope that the town's water problems are finally on the route to improvement, especially after its 15-month-long boil-water order was lifted in July.
''The community should be proud (of) what has been made available to them,'' said town Mayor John Penberth. ''I can see an end in sight of our water problems.''
The $1.35 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant and its $650,000 loan are complimented by an additional community development block grant for $320,000, and a Public Works Trust Fund loan for $250,000.
However, the Rural Development loan will increase each household's water bill $10.40 a month down the road, adding to the $5.50 increase that began Jan. 1.
Each household now pays a basic rate of $59.63 every two months.
Cam Meriweather, project engineer with consulting company Gray and Osborne Inc., said the money is not in the town's coffers yet.
''We still have some funding issues to work out,'' she said.
Meriweather, who recently took over the project, has been working extensively with the town's sewage treatment plant problems. That plant is also in need of replacement.
She said one of the town's first projects is to complete water line replacement necessary before a new plant can be built.
Volunteers from the town also plan to replace 2,000 feet of the wood stave water line that takes in water from Lester Creek, the town's main source of water. They will also reconstruct the Chehalis River intake line to minimize clogging from sediment.
Water from the Chehalis River is used only in during emergencies, such as when the Lester Creek line was damaged last winter.
However, the new water treatment plant cannot be built until after a pilot plant - a smaller version of the plant the town council chooses - has operated for at least a year.
At an April council meeting, Gray and Osborne recommended a water treatment facility that would cost roughly $1.5 million, including the pilot plant study.
The other two options were estimated at costing closer to $1 million, but may not be as efficient when the town must use the dirtier Chehalis River water.
All three options could treat 350 gallons of water a minute, more than enough for the approximately 360 households now hooked up to the town's water supply.
The town's current plant, with a capacity of 341 connections, was classified ''inadequate'' by the state Department of Health in May 1996.
The town is still $250,000 in debt from that facility, built in 1971.
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Mai Ling Slaughter covers municipal government for The Chronicle. She can be reached by e-mail at news@chronline.com or by telephoning 807-8237.
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