No delay in East Orcas Water Supply hearing

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, the San Juan County Council held a public hearing to consider adoption of what's known as the East Orcas Water Supply Report and Recommendations. The hearing took place that afternoon at the courthouse in Friday Harbor, after The Sounder went to press.

By proceeding with the hearing, the council rejected a request by Sandy Taylor, a member of the East Orcas Water Supply Committee, that it be delayed.

Taylor felt that before council members took action on the report, they should have required that a meeting be held on Orcas Island in which local citizens could have had their questions and concerns about the report addressed. Taylor charged that the committee did not get sufficient public input prior to preparing its report.

He also contended that the report represents county policy, and that it creates the possibility that water rights now being sought by the Eastsound Water Users Association and the Rosario Utility could be granted, the Mountain Lake watershed water level could be lowered, and Cascade Creek could dry up, thus threatening the salmon which spawn in the creek.

But council members and Vicki Heater, environmental health specialist with the San Juan County Department of Health and Community Services and staff support person to the East Orcas Water Supply Committee, rejected Taylor's contentions. They insisted that the report does not represent policy, and that state law prevents any water rights from being granted which threaten the lake, the creek, and the species in these bodies of water.

Taylor made his case at two public meetings that he sponsored last week, one in Olga and the other at the Senior Center in Eastsound. About 40 people attended the Olga meeting, while about 15 heard his presentation in Eastsound.

The council's decision to reject Taylor's request for a delay was made during a discussion that took place Monday, Feb. 13, at the courthouse.

Council member Alan Lichter explained why the council opted to proceed with its original plan. "There was no reason to delay this," he said. "The report provides broad directions, not policies, about (possible) avenues to walk down."

Heater concurred with Lichter's assessment. She said, "The report merely points us in the direction of finding out more information. There are things we don't know enough about to make them a policy."

If the report is approved, the next step will be to conduct studies about the issues to be addressed. Heater said future studies would be carried out by a new committee made up of representatives of the Eastsound, Rosario, Olga and Doe Bay water systems.

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