The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

On Tuesday, Wahkiakum PUD board of commissioners discussed a few of the bills being presented to the Washington state legislature that could directly affect the utility before moving into reports from their attorney, general manager and auditor.

“Legislature is in session,” Counsel Tim Hanigan said. "We need to be ever vigilant about bills that are thrown out there at the last minute. Keep your eyes and ears open.”

County Commissioner Mike Backman stopped by for a few minutes.

“I’m chair of the county commissioners this year,” Backman said. “My goal this year is to try to strengthen relationships between governmental agencies. What happens here helps the whole county. I want to show support for things that benefit the county.”

General Manager Dave Tramblie and two other PUD employees recently attended a demonstration in the fusing of high-density polyethylene in Washougal and Tramblie was impressed, much to Commissioner Bob Jungers delight. Jungers has long been a proponent of HDPE.

“I guess I was a little surprised to find out how simple the fusing process was,” Tramblie said, “and how relatively inexpensive it would be to switch from PVC to HDPE.”

The pipe is “super tough,” according to Tramblie and can stretch from three inches to four inches in diameter before it will break. Jungers added that it was freeze resistant.

However, the pipe comes in 40 foot sections, which makes it awkward to handle. The PUD would need to purchase equipment to fuse the pipe, which could cost more than $6,000.

According to Tramblie, HDPE would be a great option for Shannon Road, which is unstable.

“I don’t mean to imply that a switch to HDPE would be immediate,” he said, “we need to get more training and work through our existing inventory.”

Preparations for the PUD’s plans to replace inlets in two reservoirs in western Wahkiakum continue.

“We’re taking pressure readings while the reservoir is offline,” Tramblie said. “We need to make sure we can maintain adequate pressure at everyone’s house during this project. We’re trying to work through those issues this week.”

Meanwhile, they’ve received an estimate from a contractor who does core drilling for less than $1,000, said Tramblie.

PUD crews have changed out more than 250 electric meters that predate 1975 and had considered replacing several CT (current transformer) meters before finding out it would not be cost effective. Tramblie was advised to change them as they failed mechanically.

“If you keep them working until we upgrade to automated meters, then that’s good,” Commissioner Dennis Reid said. “Though that is a long time out.”

The commissioners approved a call for bids for a material handling aerial device as well as travel for Commissioner Gene Healy to attend a USDA workshop, “Making Communities Better with Broadband” in Olympia at the end of January.

“I want to see if there is any role for us in that game (broadband),” Healy said. “This particular workshop will add to our knowledge.”

Finally, Reid shared a thank you note from a happy Westend customer.

“He was having issues with a well at an existing home, Tramblie said. “He called me on Thursday morning, and we had water to him Friday afternoon. It was nice to help the guy out.”