NORDLAND — Jefferson County Public Utility District leaders have long dreamed of drawing briny seawater from the edge of Marrowstone Island and transforming it into water clean enough to drink or water a garden, ending water supply issues swirling around people, fish and farmers.
“If we could use reverse osmosis, especially in the summertime, it would absolutely increase the flow of water in the creeks by not taking water out,” said PUD commission President Wayne King, adding that between desalination and using PUD’s Peterson Lake as a reservoir, “We’ve got the answer.”
King has stated on more than one occasion that with $10 million PUD “can end the water wars in Jefferson County.”
Indeed, the need to acquire water rights through the state does not exist when it comes to desalination.
That’s an important factor, since East Jefferson County interests are grappling with the state Department of Ecology to develop an in-stream flow rule.
The rule would dramatically restrict future water allotments to farmers and homeowners in the Chimacum Valley, historically the richest land in the county.
Those developing the rule seek to strike a water-use balance among people, farmers and fish-bearing streams.
Reverse osmosis, or desalination, is the process of converting seawater to potable water by separating the salt and other molecules from the water, using high-water pressure to force water through a series of heavy filters in the distilling process.
Experts say reverse osmosis is an evolving technology that has fewer problems with corrosion, lower energy requirements and a higher seawater recovery rate.
The membrane filtration process can remove unwanted contaminants such as pesticides, bacteria and other chemicals.
The systems can produce between 500,000 and 1 million gallons a day and can be readily expanded based on need, PUD and engineers said.
A 2006 study commissioned by the PUD concludes that a system would be feasible but more costly than traditional freshwater purification.
The global engineering firm concluded that a reverse osmosis system would cost PUD about $12 million in 2006 dollars and result in operations and maintenance expenses of about $5 per 1,000 gallons produced.
The price is the “reality check,” the CH2MHill study concludes.
“We’re counting on grants, if not for the full funding, then the partial funding for an RO plant,” said Bill Graham, PUD’s water resource manager.
Such a system would be the second facility operated by a PUD in the state.
Snohomish County PUD operates a 10-year-old system serving about 30 Guemes Island homes that had wells fouled by saltwater intrusion.
East Jefferson County has a growing saltwater intrusion problem in places such as Marrowstone Island and the Toandos Peninsula.
“I would say Jefferson PUD is kind of in the forefront for looking at trying to do this,” said John Kounts, Washington Public Utility District Association water program director.
Other small reverse-osmosis systems dot the San Juan Islands, the largest serving the town of Friday Harbor.
Graham said a saltwater outfall would require a discharge permit from the state Department of Ecology.
The outfall could extend off the beach at least 300 feet into the heavy current zone, where Admiralty Inlet’s water would rapidly reclaim it.
Phil Wiatrak, Ecology’s lead representative with the county’s Watershed Resource Inventory Area 17 planning process, said his agency and the state Department of Health would be the primary agencies permitting PUD at the state level, especially since PUD is considering a higher-production facility.
“I think it is great that Wayne King and the other PUD commissioners are getting Bill Graham involved in looking at reverse osmosis,” Wiatrak said last week.
“We’re willing to render support wherever we can. I think the state’s willing to do what it can to help the community solve its water issues.
He said PUD is “in a fairly good position in terms of a justifiable need” when it comes to producing more water.
Other regulatory agencies that would be involved in permitting seawater filtration are state Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Natural Resources, the federal U.S. Corp of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service and Jefferson County regulatory departments such as Community Development and Public Health.
A primary environmental concern is the release of saltwater effluent in heavy concentrations.
For every 100 gallons of saltwater, about 33 gallons is filtered into potable water, leaving a concentration of saltwater as effluent, those with knowledge of the salt-removal process say.
Graham and King agree that the best site is at the U.S. Geological Survey wet lab site at the tip of Marrowstone Point, inside Fort Flagler State Park and at the northern tip of the island.
It would have the least environmental effect on marine habitat such as eelgrass, and the site is near new PUD water lines, part of the system laid down in 2007 and 2008 on Marrowstone Island.
There, rip currents are moving at an estimated 5 knots at low tide, said King, seeing the site during a visit Thursday as ideal to disperse salty effluent without environmental impact.
King said State Parks officials are concerned with the look of any building that would house a reverse-osmosis facility, wanting it to blend in with the historic lighthouse structures nearby.
No problem, King said, the PUD would be happy to design the building exterior any way State Parks wants.
Two other sites are proposed at the southern tip of Marrowstone and at Portage Canal on Indian Island near where the state Highway 116 bridge crosses from the Tri-Area mainland.
“Whichever site we go with, the pipes are already there,” King said.
“This is about as shovel-ready as you are going to get. If we can get $10 million to $15 million in stimulus money, then we’re going to start it.”
King said he would want to have a water wheel installed in the intake pipe to generate power to offset that used to filter the water.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
