Crisis at Eastsound Water Users Association | Column
Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 14, 2026
If you are one of the 70% of Orcas Island residents who receive water from Eastsound, Doe Bay, Rosario and Olga water users associations, you depend on the experienced water system operators of the Eastsound Water User Association who operate all of these water systems. EWUA water operators are the dedicated, highly trained and certified professionals who work behind the scenes treating and delivering safe drinking water 24/7, 365 days a year so your family can turn on the tap with confidence.
Unfortunately, as a direct result of years of a toxic work environment created by the general manager (GM), EWUA is on the precipice of a crisis that will affect its ability to safely operate all of these water systems.
Operator morale is at an all-time low due to conflict with the GM, unsafe working conditions (with over $25,000 in fines for workplace safety violations from Labor & Industries in one year), unpaid on-call time and ongoing mismanagement of the organization. In less than half a year, EWUA has lost five employees out of a staff of 12, including the recent resignation of two of its most valuable and experienced operators. These operators, who left in disgust with the state of management, carried deep institutional knowledge essential for the operation of complex and aging water systems on the island.
Due to the loss of these employees, the remaining operations team is stretched to the breaking point. Currently, there is only one remaining operator who is running the entire Rosario water system AND Rosario wastewater system. He is currently on track to be solely responsible for its operation seven days per week, 365 days per year, with no replacement in sight. The Rosario water plant has been described by the Washington Department of Health as the most complex water system in the entire state.
Even if another highly qualified and certified operator were to be hired today, it would take a minimum of 1-2 years of full-time training to get this operator up to speed to be able to run the plant without assistance.
On top of all this, this current operator, who is running this plant alone 365 days per year, has long given notice of his retirement, now coming in less than two years. This is an imminent emergency for the future of the Rosario water and wastewater.
This is just the current situation at the Rosario water plant — the rest of the operations team for Eastsound, Doe Bay and Olga facilities are stretched to the breaking point with the recent staff resignations and a failure to hire and train new staff.
This “operator gap” crisis is a result of years of mismanagement and workplace intimidation from the GM, and has been made even more acute with recent resignations. This association urgently needs to retain its remaining operations team to cover the multiyear process of training new operators.
During a meeting with the majority of the remaining operations staff and board representatives on April 26, the operators laid out a litany of examples of a toxic workplace environment. Having no grievance policy or HR department, these operators have had nowhere to go with their claims against the GM, as the GM is their only supervisor. It was deeply disturbing to hear of the physical and emotional toll that these operators are enduring, and it is only their dedication to each other and to this community that is keeping them from quitting. Despite this dedication, all of the remaining operators made it clear that they would be on their way out if things were not to improve quickly.
As highly concerned members, we call for the EWUA board to immediately put the general manager on administrative leave until these allegations can be handled by a professional third-party investigation. This association desperately needs a manager who shows the capacity to provide a safe and functional work environment and has the ability to retain our remaining essential operations team.
The safe drinking water for 70% of Orcas Island depends on it.
If you find this situation concerning, we urge you to write with your desire for the GM to be put on leave and initiate an immediate investigation to president@eastsoundwater.org.
We also encourage all members to attend the monthly public board meetings and make public comments. The next meeting is at 5 p.m. on May 19 at the Eastsound Firehall.
Signed,
Emmett Adam
B.J. Arnold
Dick Arnold
Robert Austin
Brett Bartmasser
Jamie Beechum
Elisabeth Britt
Brooke Budner
Pauline Chiquet
James Cook
Patty Cook
Betty Corbett
Miramonee Darling
Brian Ehrmantraut
Randall Gaylord
Libi Geddis
Ignacio Cruz Gonzalez
Dan Gottlieb
Grace Gotlieb
Bruce Halabisky
Cory Harrington
Dave Johnson
Fred Klein
Tiffany Loney
Kim Mason
Chanda McKeaver
Rob Meyer
James Most
Weston Mueller
Matt Nelson
Sara Joy Palmer
Michael Riordan
Joseph Segault
Cornelius Sprenger
Elizabeth Star
Trillium Swanson
Maryann Syers
David Turnoy
Teri Williams
Haley Cruz Winchell
Bill Wulff
