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

The Town of Cathlamet, Wahkiakum PUD and the state Department of Health (DOH) are working on a plan that will keep the local agencies from restricting new connections to their joint water systems.

In 2015, they notified the town that a limit on new connections to both town and Puget Island water systems was possible because the town's water plant couldn't pump enough water from the Elochoman River in summer to meet the plant's capacity.

In the fall, the town Public Works Department used compressed air to clean the perforated line that runs under the river bed and serves as the plant's intake. This boosted pumping capacity, officials said, but not enough to lift the threat of the DOH restriction.

The preferred solution is to install an additional line in the river which would boost the plant's intake capacity.

That work is likely to cost $400,000, John Hinton, a consulting engineer working for Gray and Osborne Engineers, said Tuesday.

Officials are concerned that the systems could run out of connections before the town is able to find funding for the work.

However, the parties are working on an interim solution to address the problem.

Hinton told town council members there are two possibilities. One is to install a pump in the river for summer time consumption. The other is to locate an existing, old, unused intake line. This would have to be done when the river is no longer at winter flow, and a diver would be needed to find the line and get it connected.

Work to accomplish the interim solution is estimated to cost around $66,000, Hinton said. The PUD has agreed to cover 40 percent of the cost, leaving the town to pay around $39,000.

The project should allow the systems to continue allowing new connections while the town finances the larger project.

However, Council Member Dick Swart cautioned that the DOH won't continue with unrestricted connections.

Council members discussed the situation and voted to sign a contract with Gray and Osborne and proceed with the project.

In other business, council members authorized Mayor Dale Jacobson to sign an agreement with Port District 1 to allow the port to use the town's old sewage lagoons as a dredge spoil disposal site.

Town Attorney Heidi Heywood said she and Port Attorney Tim Hanigan are fine tuning details in it, and the council authorized the mayor to sign the agreement when Heywood is satisfied with its language.

Port 1 has purchased a used dredge and wants to deepen parts of the marina and the Elochoman Slough entrance to the marina before the end of March.