PORT TOWNSEND — Heavy rains have alleviated the worries of the city’s water resource department.
Ian Jablonski, city water resource asset manager, said his office has “no more worries” as 6 inches of rain during the past week has replenished the Big Quilcene and Little Quilcene rivers to the point where the city can again fill the Lords Lake reservoir.
“It was a little dirty to start with, but we did begin pulling water from both rivers and refilling Lords Lake on Oct. 15,” Jablonski said.
“The rivers got dumped on by rain on Saturday so we should be good for a while here.”
The level of Lords Lake had been quickly declining since Port Townsend stopped pulling water from the two rivers in early August when water levels fell below state imposed in-stream flow guidelines.
Reserve supplies
When that occurs, the city must begin using Lords Lake and City Lake as reserves.
In most years, the city had not switched to reserve water supply until late August or early September.
Last week, Jablonski said the city had about three weeks of water left in the Lords Lake reservoir.
Jablonski said that without substantial rain replenishing the reservoirs and rivers, the city would have had to tap into its second reserve, City Lake.
“But now there isn’t a concern,” he said.
“It will take a while to fully restock the lake but through the winter that should occur.
“So yes, we can stop worrying.”
The major user of the city’s water supply is Port Townsend Paper Corp.
While city residents use about 1 million gallons of water per day, the mill uses more than 14 million gallons daily.
A temporary pump was installed once the water level in Lords Lake fell below 200 million gallons. Once the lake is refilled, the pump will be removed.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com