Three hundred wait for Eastsound water

Three hundred applications for water permits now sit in the office of the Eastsound Water Users Association (EWUA), unable to be acted upon because of a moratorium on new water memberships.

There would probably be twice as many, General Manager Ted Wixom said, if the waiting list was not closed. Wixom mentioned the figures at the EWUA’s annual meeting Aug. 27 at the Orcas Senior Center.

The EWUA is hoping that virtually all of those currently on the waiting list can get their water memberships, and in the near future. This fall it will be submitting a request to add 288 new water memberships. It will be made to the state Department of Health, the agency which has the authority over these matters. The EWUA will tell the state that it is rehabilitating existing wells, Wixom said, and that it will be able to safely handle the additional capacity.

Wixom pointed out that the public won’t notice a huge surge in building activity immediately after the new memberships are granted. Most of the requests, he said, are from people with plans to retire to Orcas Island several years from now, or those hoping to increase the value of their land by having a water membership on it. “You won’t see a spike after they’re approved,” Wixom said.

Long-term expansion, however, will likely require building a second reservoir on Buck Mountain. The reservoir, called Upper Perdue Lake, is getting serious consideration because it is located in an area of Orcas Island that gets a great deal of rain -- 51 inches in 1999 -- and because it’s alongside Eastsound’s current reservoir.

“A lot of the rain goes over the top (of the existing Perdue Lake reservoir) and is not being used, reported EWUA board member Frank Stratton.

Engineers are currently studying the feasibility of adding a second reservoir. So far, all the studies have been encouraging, Wixom said. But as yet there are no firm plans to construct the lake; many permits from federal, state and county agencies will have to be obtained; and, perhaps most importantly, the question of how to pay for it has yet to be decided.

Approximately 20 people attended the meeting. Reelected to the EWUA board were Terry Gillespie, Jim Nelson and Phil Miller.

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