PORT HADLOCK — Jefferson County Public Utility District No. 1 is constantly looking for water sources.

Bernard Peterson is looking for someone to buy the family property near state Highway 104 east of Discovery Bay.

There might be a connection between the two needs.

Peterson pitched his property, about 200 acres, to PUD commissioners during their meeting Wednesday night, saying: “I want to see the best for it.”

The best for Peterson, he said, is for the land never to be developed.

“I don’t want it to be cut into 50- and 100-foot lots,” Peterson, 93, told the commissioners.

The land has something the utility district commissioners want badly.

Water.

Water in the form of several artesian wells, one that Peterson says produces 90 gallons a minute.

Then there’s water storage. A large lake on the property homesteaded by Peterson’s parents is 70 feet deep and holds 33 million gallons of water, according to his estimates.

Expanding PUD needs

The utility district, facing expanding needs with a Marrowstone Island public water system in the planning stages and an urban growth area certain to attract more faucets to the Port Hadlock/Irondale area, needs more water and more storage.

The additional storage provided by the lake would allow the PUD to save winter rainfall for use during summer months.

Peterson thinks the storage could be expanded by making the lake up to 15 feet deeper with the addition of a dam on one side.

“I’m impressed by the PUD,” Peterson told the board.

“I’m happy you’re even interested in it.”