By DEAN RADFORD
TACOMA, Wash., Oct. 17, 2000 (South County Journal )—The Green River is nature's centerpiece in South King County, but not a drop of its water flows from local faucets.
But the city of Kent and four water utilities are close to signing a final agreement to build a pipeline that will bring an average of 42 million gallons of water a day from the upper Green to the thirsty Puget Sound Basin starting in 2004.
Besides Kent, the partners in the $250 million project are the Covington Water District, the Lakehaven Utility District in Federal Way and the Seattle and Tacoma public utilities.
Significantly, the pipeline and its northern spur to Lake Youngs reservoir would tie together the region's water supply system, making it possible to share water during emergencies or shortages.
The project will cost Kent about $28 million and the Covington Water District about $22 million.
The water could help stave off a building moratorium in Kent and ensure the Covington Water District has enough water through 2035. Kent raised its water rates last year to help pay for the project. The Covington Water District will consider the project's financial impact in making future rate increases.
"The legacy I want to leave is adequate water for the foreseeable future," said Judy Nelson, manager of the Covington Water District.
She was with the district when it signed one of the first agreements to tap into the Green River in 1985. As she says, these things take time.
"It had a lot of permits and a lot of conditions to be met," she said, and "a lot of interests to be served."
Her board signed the final agreement late last year. Kent has yet to sign the final agreement, although it's one of the original partners.
The Lakehaven Utility District has already spent $16 million to build a pipeline from Tacoma to Federal Way, partly with the proceeds of an 8 percent increase in its basic rate structure. Its board has approved the agreement.
The Seattle City Council will hold a public meeting tonight on the final environmental impact statement for the so-called north branch that will bring water to the Lake Youngs Reservoir east of Renton. Final approval is expected later this month.
The water comes from the city of Tacoma's second water right to the river, thus the name, Second Supply Project. Tacoma is scheduled to sign the agreement this January, after federal agencies approve its Habitat Conservation Plan for the Green River Watershed.
The project is the only new source of water on the books in the Puget Sound Basin.
"This is a critical regional project," said Paul Reiter, strategic policy director for Seattle Public Utilities. "It's a key element in our ability to respond to water for fish and water for people under the Growth Management Act."
But the environmental review points out that the pipeline to Lake Youngs could affect chinook salmon, mostly because of construction in and near bodies of water. The utilities also must maintain minimum stream flows in the Green River for fish runs.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will raise the level of the reservoir behind Howard Hanson Dam in order to store the additional water.
Seattle supplies water to about 1.7 million people in King County, including water districts in South King County and on the Eastside.
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©2000 Horvitz Newspapers Inc.
