PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — With the Elwha River swollen from rains, officials have canceled the city’s water shortage declaration issued in late September.
At 4:15 p.m. Monday, the Elwha River at the McDonald Bridge was running at 13.15 feet high and 3,210 cubic feet per second, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The river’s average height is 12.09 feet and average streamflow is 1,720 cubic feet per second.
The Elwha River was running as low as 321 cubic feet per second in late September when the Port Angeles City Council declared a Stage 2 water shortage, asking for immediate voluntary reductions in water consumption.
Low streamflow affects spawning habitat for endangered salmon runs as well as the amount of water available to the city’s water system.
The city of Port Angeles serves about 8,000 households with a system that can provide 11 million gallons of water per day.
The city also has five reservoirs with 18 million gallons of storage.