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