Commissioner's
Corner
Donald L. P. Miller
 As
a customer, your expectation is that we continue to provide an affordable
supply of water. The water we provide must be both of a quality and
quantity to meet your needs. To many of us, this includes having water
available to water our gardens, flowers and yards to a reasonable degree.
With the extra demand placed on the system during the dry summer, we have
seen a peak water-use day this summer of over 20 million gallons. This is
roughly double the normal demand for water during the year.
In order for the District to be able to meet the demands that growth
places on water resources, we must continue to plan for a reliable future
supply of water. As previously reported, we have recently completed
construction of the western section of the Second Supply Pipeline. Not
only will this help in bringing about the ultimate construction of the
Pipeline, which will make available the delivery of a large supply of
water to our system from the Green River, it enables us to purchase a firm
supply of water from Tacoma in the interim.
Much of the water you take in is, of course, returned to us through the
sewer system. Currently, we discharge an average of about 7 million
gallons of treated wastewater per day to the Puget Sound. In many areas
throughout the country, however, advanced water treatment technologies are
allowing this water to be "recycled" for subsequent
non-consumptive uses. As these technologies evolve, more and more uses, or
"re-uses", of the water, become available.
The subject of water reuse has been discussed as a longer range
project. A couple of benefits are:
- An ability to reduce discharge of the treated effluent. A reduction
of effluent discharge at our treatment plants is an emerging
regulatory goal and could create some savings in the permits under
which the plants are operated.
- Replacement of valuable drinking water to irrigate greenways,
parkways and golf courses. This makes more sense if we can obtain
grant funding to help offset the significant costs of developing the
system to treat and distribute the water for these uses.
With an interest in the benefits of a water reuse program, I have had
the opportunity to make contact with the Bureau of Reclamation on this
subject during the past several years. The Bureau, which oversees a number
of these programs in other parts of the country, seems to be receptive to
helping to fund a reuse program in Western Washington. In order to help
make federal grant funds available to the District for a reuse project,
Commissioner Bev Tweddle recently traveled to Washington D.C. on two
occasions to testify in support of legislation which would authorize
funding for reuse projects here and in other areas of the country. Other
board members and staff have contributed support and provided information
to encourage federal participation in a District reuse project as well.
All in all, our mission still remains to provide the best service to
our customers at the most reasonable cost. We welcome your calls and
comments.
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South 320th and Pacific Highway South
Intersection Improvement Project
The City of Federal Way and Lakehaven Utility District have entered
into an Interlocal Agreement on this intersection improvement project.
South 320th
Street at the Pacific Highway intersection will be improved to provide
three (3) through lanes and double left turn lanes on S 320th
Street for both east and west bound traffic. West bound traffic will also
have a dedicated right turn lane on to Pacific Highway north bound.
Modification to the District's water facilities are required. Up to 450
feet of 12-inch water main will be relocated along with the installation
of 4 new fire hydrants. Trenching, re-paving, and traffic control in this
high traffic area is also included. To accomplish this work the District
and the City of Federal Way entered into an Interlocal Agreement to
maximize the coordination of this effort. The District will
"piggyback" on the City's design and construction contracts. In
other words, the District will utilize the City's design consultant, CH2M
Hill, to provide the water plans and specifications. The District will
also use the City's construction contractor, R.W. Scott Construction, for
the actual construction work required on the project. The District has
agreed to pay the City the estimated design costs and the actual
construction costs. Not only is maximum coordination achieved, but costs
are minimized by this arrangement. Construction management is also
provided by the City's consultant under the monitoring of the District's
staff in relation to the water facilities.
The bid for both the street and water portions was for $2,402,277.40.
The District's portion of construction costs is $160,622.66 to be adjusted
by final costs. Total costs to the District which include design,
construction management and contingencies is estimated to be $209,007.33.
R. W. Scott Construction provided a tight construction schedule at the
Pre-construction Conference. The project is to be substantially complete
before December 31st.
Underground work on water facilities is to begin by August 21, 2000 and be
completed by the first week in October.
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Status of the NE Tacoma/Federal Way
Transmission Main Project
The NE Tacoma/Federal Way Transmission Main Project is operational! The
entire project, which provides a nine mile direct pipeline from Tacoma to
Federal Way, is in the final stages of completion. The $16 million dollar
pipeline project became operational on June 29th,
2000. The final site restoration work is expected to be complete by the
end of September. The most visible portion of the project is Lakehaven's
flow control facility at 1st
Way S under the Bonneville Power Lines, the terminus of this project.
Eventually, the NE Tacoma/Federal Way Transmission Main Project will be
used as part of the Second Supply Project that will extend the 60-inch
diameter pipeline from 1st
Way S to Howard Hanson Dam in the foothills of the Cascades. The
participants in this larger regional water supply project, Tacoma,
Seattle, Kent, Covington and Lakehaven, have a draft agreement which will
make Green River water available for South King and Pierce Counties. This
regional project includes an additional 33 miles of pipe, numerous fish
and habitat enhancement elements, additional water storage, and as much as
65 million gallons of water a day for future use. Lakehaven would receive
a 1/9 share of the project's water. It is anticipated that the agreement
could be signed near the end of the year with construction completed in
the year 2005.
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ASR Technical Advisory Committee
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In the last legislative session Lakehaven Utility District successfully
sponsored a bill that would allow the Department of Ecology to permit an
aquifer as an underground water storage reservoir. When the new law went
into effect on June 8, 2000, Lakehaven submitted a permit application to
classify the Mirror Lake Aquifer as a storage reservoir. The Mirror Lake
Aquifer is a large pocket of sands and gravel located approximately 300
feet below ground in the vicinity of Mirror Lake. The aquifer has the
potential to store 9.4 billion gallons of water. That's enough water to
supply Lakehaven customers for nearly two and a half years!
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Left to right: Representative
Kelli Linville, Governor Locke,
Mark Triplett, and John Bowman |
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Unfortunately, since the legislation is so new, the rules have not been
written on how to process such an application or how to manage this type
of facility. In July, the Department of Ecology set up an Aquifer Storage
and Recovery (ASR) Technical Advisory Group to help write these rules for
Washington State. Since Lakehaven has the only application in under this
new legislation, we will be participating with the Department of Ecology
in the development of these rules. This is an exciting opportunity not
only for Lakehaven, but also for other water suppliers around the State.
With the ability to store and recover water from aquifer reservoirs,
utilities will be capable of supplying water though drought years or other
types of emergencies. Water suppliers will also be able to use this tool
to better manage the water needs of both people and the environment.
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Field Day 2000
Every year during the 4th weekend in
June, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) holds their annual shakedown
exercise or "Field Day." This is a 24-hour event where
approximately 35,000 amateur radio operators ("hams"),
throughout the U.S. and Canada, operate on emergency power only and
fine-tune their radio skills. The idea is to put together a
self-sufficient working station quickly and begin making contacts. The
Federal Way Amateur Radio Club (FWARC) participated in the Field Day for
the second year and set up their site at the Top Foods/Wal-Mart RV parking
area.
The concern and support towards emergency preparedness in the greater
Federal Way area was evident through the outpouring of support by local
businesses. Many helped sponsor this event in the form of food and
supplies for the many radio club volunteers. The FWARC managed to maintain
and operate six radio stations all using generator power during this
period. In real life, these stations could be passing emergency traffic
messages for police, fire or other emergency support groups.
The Federal Way Amateur Radio Club is a non-profit volunteer
organization that provides auxiliary communication for public service
agencies and is a participating member of the Federal Way Emergency
Management Planning Committee. Our representatives for Lakehaven Utility
District are Ron McCoy and Rich Fujimoto pictured.
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Your Board of
Commissioners
Beverly J. Tweddle
- President
Donald L. P. Miller - Vice President
Tom Jovanovich - Secretary
Dick Mayer - Commissioner
Ed Stewart - Commissioner
Regular Board of Commissioners meetings are held at the
Lakehaven Center at 31531 First Ave. S., Federal Way at 6 p.m.
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