More County answers on water

Responses from Mike Olden, Engineering Consultant for Grays Harbor County, to questions posed by the North Coast News:

Q: Even if Ocean Shores gets a full $3 million grant/loan forgiveness, can you see a scenario where Ocean Shores would up-grade its system, and still purchase some water from the County? 

A: I can’t speak for the City of course, but I could foresee a situation where they could build the first 1 MGD of capacity with the grant money and then contract with the County for peaking capacity.  This could potentially save the City a lot of money by not having to spend an additional $3 Million for something they would only use on summer weekends. 

 Q: There are concerns about pumping tests. Can you give a few examples of wells you have worked on, length of testing and how they have worked out? Have any wells you tested later failed?

A: I have been involved with dozens of wells all over southwest Washington during the last 16 years as a DOH engineer and as a consultant.  To answer your question in depth would probably take quite a bit of research to get all of the details straight, but I can throw out a few examples that I have readily available.  The following are considered to be exceptional wells that are producing water at the tested capacity: Pacific Beach/Moclips Well No. 3 - 24 hour test, 265 gpm (1995); Montesano Well No. 3 - 5 hour test, 1,000 gpm (1988); Elma Well No. 3 - 6 hour test, 700 gpm (1960); Tenino Well No. 3, 9 hour test, 360 gpm (1994).  Since I was part of the regulatory structure in the mid 1990‘s, I know that most (I would estimate at least 90% of) public wells from the period from about 1990 to 2000 were subject to not more than either a 4 hour or 24 hour test depending upon the size of the water system. I have been personally involved with two well failures, one well that was installed under my watch and one that wasn‘t.  Both failures occurred due to over pumping.  In one case, there were no automatic well controls and the well was subsequently operated 24/7 for weeks at a time.  The other case was a misunderstanding of the how to limit the well to within the rated capacity.  Fortunately, both wells were salvaged to provide a reasonable level of production after the proper control systems were implemented.  Other well failures that I am aware of, but was not directly associated with, were due to casing deterioration, which really has no bearing on whether there is water available for use.  I don‘t recall what happened to the Westport wells that are similar to the City‘s proposed wells, but the City of Westport had to drill wells further inland.

 Q: Would you be willing to do a “trial” or “test period” for Ocean Shores to see how the Hogan’s Corner wells are, before signing a long-term contract? 

A: Definitely yes.  One form of this scenario (trial basis) is one of the options in our last proposal to the City. We could essentially supply all of the City‘s water demand over the winter months starting in October of this year.  However, what we really need from the City is serious discussion of what level of service and at what cost point would make the County water attractive for peaking or any other type of use. Without this, we keep trying to hit a moving target.  If they could give us this type of feedback, we could simply tell them whether or not service is feasible once and for all.  We really just want to help if we can.  If we can‘t help, that‘s just the way it is.

 Q: When do you anticipate getting bids on Hogan’s Corner, and what is the next step after that? The County will open bids on the initial Hogan‘s Corner project on April 13th.  

A: We will evaluate the bids, make sure that the cost vs. revenue situation is sound and move forward with either the full project or the portion(s) of the project that can be implemented.  

 We will also be able to provide the City with some cost data for the control valve and metering required for an emergency intertie between the two systems.  The City could then decide if they still wanted to pursue that option.  They have maintained that a two-way emergency intertie is a good idea.  We would agree.