'We're not done yet': Water plant feted in mega-project to remove Elwha dams
Jon Jarvis, left, director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service,speaks during Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremonies for a new water treatment plant along the Elwha River west of Port Angeles. Seated at right is U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, with Sue McGill, acting superintendent of Olympic National Park, in the background. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
By Brian Gawley, Peninsula Daily News
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The plants are being built to protect Port Angeles drinking water during the Elwha River dams removal project.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, said the federal government's significant investment to protect the area's water quality should be appreciated.
The dam removal project's 2004 cost estimate was $185 million, but the two water treatment plant projects alone — originally estimated at $50 million of that total — are costing $94.1 million by themselves.
"We have been funding and funding and funding, and we're not done yet, but we're getting over the financing hump," Dicks said.
He said he's pleased that President George W. Bush has supported the project, which began when President Bill Clinton was in office.
He hopes that the science of river restoration learned during the project can be applied to dam removal or river restoration elsewhere.
"We should really focus on the science, what we learn from this project, its impacts and consequences," Dicks said.
The National Park Service has been planning to take down the Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam since the 1992 Elwha River Restoration Act authorized their removal to restore salmon habitat.
The federal law also required construction of two treatment plants to protect the water supplies of the city of Port Angeles, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and its fish hatchery as well as the state fish rearing channel.
"These two [water plant] contracts together are the largest ever awarded in the National Park Service's history," said Jon Jarvis, Pacific West Regional Director for the National Park Service.
"These water treatment plants really are the major step before dam removal, to ensure the quality and quantity of the water supply.
"The dam removal is a relatively simple part of this project."
Jarvis said removing the two Elwha River dams was a promise made to Randy Jones, the late deputy superintendent of Olympic National Park, who died of cancer in November 2005.
Lower Elwha
He also said the project is due to the persistence, the patience and the impatience, of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal councilman Dennis Sullivan said, "This is a very historic moment. It's a huge step in removing those damn dams."
"When the dams are removed it will be a very sentimental and emotional time for our elders.
"Only a handful are left of those who testified in Washington, D.C.," Sullivan said.
The second water treatment plant is being built upstream from an existing water intake that serves the state Department of Fish and Wildlife fish rearing channel and Nippon Paper Industries' mill.
The project is estimated to take three years because of restrictions on working in the Elwha River due to streamflows and fish migration.
The crowd included current and former city, tribal and federal officials, some of whom have retired since the project to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams first began in 1992.
In September, the National Park Service awarded a $24.5 million contract for the first water treatment plant, now under construction at the city's landfill site, to a joint venture of Watts Constructors LLC and John Korsmo Co. (Watts/Korsmo A JV).
In December, the $69.6 million contract to build the second treatment plant — plus a new water intake and improvements to levees and Crown Z Road — was awarded in mid-December to a joint venture of DelHur Industries of Port Angeles and Watts Constructors LLC.
National Park Service Biologist Brian Winter said construction would begin next month after the contractor receives the "notice to proceed."
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-417-3532 or brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: January 26. 2008 9:00PM