On the North Olympic Peninsula, the statewide drought is wrapped around a tale of groundwater vs. snowpack.
While snowpack-fed rivers are extremely low on the Peninsula, wells that pump groundwater from deep aquifers in Clallam and Jefferson counties remain flush with water, according to water managers in the region.
Most water systems in the Clallam County Public Utility District and all in the Jefferson County PUD rely on wells, which are primarily fed by winter rainfall that was 93 percent of average this year, according to the National Weather Service and other agencies that track rainfall.
What is lacking is an Olympic Mountains snowpack to supplement river water and, in the long term, to feed aquifers from which groundwater is pumped into wells.
“We just haven’t had anything measurable stay up there,” Mike Kitz, Clallam PUD water superintendent, said Friday.
“In years past, we’ve always been able to see snow up there at this time of year,” said Kitz, who has worked in the PUD’s water department for 38 years.
The drought is so severe that Kitz said the drought could have an impact on groundwater, depending on how long it lasts.
“We are optimistic about it,” he said. “We just don’t know what will happen in a drought year like this.”
Port Angeles
The city of Port Angeles will not run out of drinking water.
That’s the forecast of Craig Fulton, director of city public works and utilities, issued last week as the city issued a stage 2 alert calling for voluntary water conservation.
Fish habitat, however, could be hit hard by the drought, he added.
Port Angeles draws its water from the snowpack-fed Elwha River through the 60-foot-deep Ranney collector well.
The Ranney collector is located near the Elwha River and takes in water from an aquifer fed by the river, 60 feet below the riverbed.
The well, constructed in 1979, produces 6 million gallons of water per day during the dry season, Fulton said.
Fulton said Friday the city is preparing fliers for utility bills about the stage 2 alert announced Wednesday.
The city uses 3.5 million gallons per day during summer months, so the city expects to have plenty of water to get through the dry season, Fulton said.
As needed, the city also can draw water from Olympic National Park’s water system, which takes a direct draw from the river, Fulton said.
The Elwha has proven water supplies to about 200 cubic feet per second (cfs), he said.
City officials estimate the river will drop to 300 cfs between mid-July and mid-August.
At that time, stage 3 restrictions could be enacted, limiting outdoor water use to designated days.
Stage 4 water restrictions could occur if the river drops below 200 cfs — reducing streamflow to a point that endangers salmon migration.
Water alerts
The Clallam PUD also has issued water alerts.
On June 9, a stage 4 water shortage was issued that applies to 566 customers of the Upper Fairview Water District, banning the use of water outdoors for lawns and gardens — the sharpest restrictions issued so far in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The highest-level water shortage alert is stage 5, which includes water rationing.
The Upper Fairview district is fed by Morse Creek, which relies on both rainfall and snowpack.
The state Department of Ecology does not allow water to be removed from the creek when the flow falls to 25 cfs to leave enough water in the waterway for the fish that live there.
On Friday, the most recent measurement available, the flow at Morse Creek was 53.1 cfs, with a previous record low for June 19 of 83.1 cfs, measured in 2005.
“Normally, it’s 150 cfs at this time of year,” Kitz said.
In 2005, the driest year on record, the creek fell to that level Aug. 13.
“This year is exceptional. By the rate the creek is falling, it could reach 25 cfs by July 7,” said Tom Martin, water and wastewater system assistant superintendent for the PUD.
Most of the Fairview Water District, which has about 1,3000 customers, is served by two new wells that cost $3 million.
Martin said it would cost $10 million to build infrastructure to pump the water to the top of the hill to serve the remaining 566 customers and could not be done this year.
The PUD is working with Ecology and area tribes to pump water from the lower wells to replace reservoir water that serves homes that can’t be served with the new wells, he said.
Last week, the Clallam PUD issued a call for voluntary water conservation measures — a stage 2 alert — for 1,555 households in Gales Addition, Mount Angeles and Monroe, which lie in the city of Port Angeles’ urban growth boundary.
The alert mirrored that issued by the city of Port Angeles, which sells water to the PUD for these districts.
Other PUD service areas are not under water restrictions and are served by groundwater-fed wells, spokesman Mike Howe said Thursday.
Sequim
The Sequim water supply was reported to be in good shape as the driest city on the Peninsula heads into the summer months.
“Our wells are deep and not duly affected by low river flow. We don’t anticipate a problem with our water supply,” said Ann Soule, water resource project manager.
Sequim has six wells, the Ranney system, and four reservoirs.
The city has increased the pumping rate at its Silberhorn well off Silberhorn Road to protect Dungeness River flows, interim Public Works Director Dave Garlington said Friday.
“We’re pumping as much as we can out of there and reducing how much we are taking out of the Dungeness infiltration [system],” he said.
Worries abound from city, state and Jamestown S’Klallam tribal officials that the Dungeness River will be so low that the 1.3 million pink salmon expected to enter the waterway this year will have difficulty making their way upriver to spawn.
Low water levels increase water temperatures and make the salmon’s journey more difficult.
“We’re trying to leave as much water in the Dungeness river as we can,” Garlington said.
“The greatest danger right now is to fish and to farmers.”
Dungeness irrigators
The Sequim-Dungeness Water Users Association, which represents seven irrigation districts serving primarily agricultural users that draw directly from the Dungeness River, has completed planning for the summer.
Washington Water Trust officials will pay $200,000 to 13 landowners to leave 800 acres of land dry this year, and residential users have been asked to cut back on yard watering.
Member users will begin implementation of more aggressive water-rationing plans when the Dungeness River reaches 120 cfs, said Gary Smith, spokesman for the association.
The river was at 175 cfs Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“We all need to be conscious of the amount of water we use,” Smith said.
Forks
On the West End, Forks takes its water from two wells. Levels in both are lower than usual for mid-June, Rod Fleck, city planner/attorney, said Wednesday.
The levels are similar to what is usually seen in late July, Fleck said.
“July and August will be real interesting,” he said.
Forks has no water restrictions now, but officials are examining those applied during the 2005 drought, which included asking residents to refrain from watering lawns and washing cars.
Dry weather has stirred worries of fire.
Fleck said old-timers in town have said the current weather pattern reminds them of the summers of 1950 and 1951, just before the Great Forks Fire of 1951, which burned 38,000 acres of timber from Camp Creek, west of Lake Crescent, to Forks.
Port Townsend
Port Townsend depends upon Olympic Mountain snowpack, which is at zero, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The city pumps water from the Big Quilcene and Little Quilcene rivers and has storage in two reservoirs: Lords Lake and City Lake.
“Flows are dropping two months ahead of where they typically drop,” said Ian Jablonski, water quality manager for Port Townsend Public Works.
Typically, the city begins drawing from the reservoirs in September, but this year, that could begin in July, Jablonski said.
The city has no wells it relies on, Public Works Director Ken Clow said Friday.
Olympic Water and Sewer, which serves about 1,600 customers in Port Ludlow, is served by five wells.
Jefferson PUD
The water source for Jefferson County PUD, which serves most of East Jefferson County, is a series of wells with deep aquifers, said Jim Parker, PUD manager.
“Our wells are looking good,” Parker said Thursday.
“The snow means literally nothing to us,” he said.
“We are more concerned about rainfall during the winter months rather than snow because snowfall does us no good at all.”
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
