CHIMACUM – With Jefferson County’s water resources in a human vs. salmon tug of war, tapping a new water source might ease some political tensions.
That’s why the Jefferson County Public Utility District, Quilcene-Snow Creek Water Resources Inventory Area 17 planning unit and the state Department of Ecology have joined forces to drill a test well deeper than any has gone before.
PUD leaders proposed the project as the lead agency, and Ecology awarded a $89,000 grant to PUD to tap a test well in Chimacum Valley – perhaps as deep as 800 feet.
The deepest production well in the valley is about 300 feet.
The nonproduction well would be intended to determine whether there is a deep aquifer that could be tapped to lessen the impact on Chimacum Creek and its Endangered Species Act-listed summer chum salmon and Puget Sound steelhead.
