PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Public Utility District has completed a $1.6 million backup water supply for the drought-prone Upper Fairview water system.
District commissioners voted 3-0 Monday to accept a completed contract with Harbor Pacific Contractors Inc., the Woodinville firm that performed the work.
Three pump stations were built along Deer Park Road east of Port Angeles to provide a backup water supply when Morse Creek flows fade in the late summer and early fall.
“We might be facing that in a couple weeks,” PUD Water Superintendent Tom Martin told district commissioners Monday.
“Yeah, it’s getting there,” Board Chairman Will Purser said.
Upper Fairview is one of the water districts where drought alerts have become the norm in recent years.
Temporary pumps were installed along Deer Park Road to serve the 587-customer district during a severe drought in 2015, Martin said.
“This completes a bilateral compliance agreement with the (state) Department of Health to provide that backup water supply for Upper Fairview,” Martin said.
Martin said there were eight change orders totaling $45,614. The $1.6 million total cost includes state sales tax.
“We had to add a chlorine analyzer,” Martin said in the virtual meeting.
“We had to do some additional programming for the controls, and raise the slab elevation of one of the pump stations.”
The state health department requires water providers to monitor the distribution of chlorine.
“We took this opportunity to put a chlorine analyzer in the new pump station so we wouldn’t have to send crews out there on overtime and weekends to monitor it every day,” Martin said.
“This is online, continuous monitoring,” Purser added.
In other water-related news, the PUD issued drought alerts Friday for the Island View and Clallam Bay/Sekiu water systems.
Customers in the Island View district were asked to limit outdoor water use to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and voluntary conservation was encouraged in the Clallam Bay/Sekiu water district.
For information on Clallam County PUD, visit www.clallampud.net.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
