The updated draft of the City of Chehalis water system plan was discussed during a public hearing at Chehalis City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 11 by Public Works Director Lance Bunker, Water Superintendent Riley Bunnell and consultants from Gibbs & Olson Inc. out of Olympia.
Chehalis’ water system recently caused a stir among developers and residents as back in July 2023, fears were raised that the city could be facing supply issues as some consultant projections indicated Chehalis’ growth was quickly outpacing and exceeding the current water system’s supply capacity.
To help address this issue, the city initiated the Bishop Road loop project to expand and connect water lines in the area. Bunnell said Monday, Jan. 8 that this project is nearly complete.
“Full project completion date is scheduled for March,” Bunnell said at the time.
Delays in laying asphalt caused the project to be extended until early spring. A project to expand water main lines along Market Boulevard is still in the works, though, Bunnell said on Thursday, with the Bishop Road loop project complete, the city now has more time to find funding and contractors for the project.
Water system plan updates are required every 10 years by the Washington state Department of Health (DOH) and are made to evaluate a municipality’s water system to ensure it can adequately supply residents and businesses with high-quality water, according to Gibbs & Olson project engineer Gerald Mickelsen.
“The water system plan will develop projects to address any identified deficiencies,” Mickelsen said on Thursday. “And then we’ll also look at funding.”
City wide, 577,000 feet of water lines provide 3,853 service connections with water. Chehalis’ water comes from the Chehalis River and the north fork of the Newaukum River at a rate of 5,800 gallons per minute combined, according to the water system plan draft.
Mickelsen said Chehalis’ current water rights are projected to be sufficient through 2040, but issues were found in other areas.
“Our analysis shows that the capacity of the water treatment plant will be deficient beginning in 2036,” Mickelsen said.
Chehalis’ water treatment plant was built in 1961 and has the capacity to produce 4.8 million gallons per day of water using four different treatment processes — flocculation, sedimentation, sand filtration and disinfection via chlorination.
Water treatment facility deficiencies, along with other possible water system deficiencies, can be found in chapter three of Chehalis’ water system plan draft. Capital improvements to address the deficiencies can be found in chapter eight.
Through 2030, 15 projects are proposed, including one source improvement, four pump station projects and 10 distribution improvement projects.
“Just to note, some of those improvements have already been implemented, such as the Bishop Road loop,” Mickelsen said.
Other projects are also optional, he said, as certain projects — if completed — will eliminate the need for others.
Through 2040, an additional 20 improvement projects have been proposed.
The water system plan draft also addresses Chehalis’ water-use efficiency program, which the DOH requires to be updated every six years. Chehalis city staff updated the water-use efficiency program in 2009 with a goal to reduce water usage by 25,000 gallons per day.
“The data we’ve received indicates the goal has been met between 2008 and 2015,” Mickelsen said.
During a public hearing in 2019, Chehalis’ current water-use efficiency program goal was adopted and aims to reduce water usage by 3% during the summer months of May, June, July and August, according to Mickelsen.
“Chapter 04 of the water system plan goes more into detail as far as the measures and how meeting that goal can be achieved,” Mickelsen added.
To view the water system plan draft, visit https://www.ci.chehalis.wa.us/publicworks/draft-water-system-plan.
Public comments on the draft plan are currently being accepted through the end of January before the Chehalis City Council adopts the draft and it is submitted to the DOH for final approval, which is anticipated for next month.
Comments on the draft plan can be emailed to Bunnell at rbunnell@ci.chehalis@wa.us.
