Soap Lake seeks a way to revitalize mineral water system

SOAP LAKE — The City of Soap Lake is looking at ways to revitalize the town’s antiquated and mostly non-functional system for mineral water distribution. And town officials are looking for public input following the publication of the city’s mineral water system plan on Monday.

“The Soap Lake Mineral Water System is unique and may be the only publicly owned system in the U.S.,” reads the report authored by the city’s consulting engineering firm Gray & Osborne. “The mineral water serves as a unique resource for the city in attracting tourists and businesses that seek out its well-recorded healing properties.”

A public hearing is scheduled for the Soap Lake High School Library on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 5:30 p.m., to review the plan and recommendations.

That report says that in 1940, the city acquired the rights to draw 1 cubic foot per second of lake water for medicinal and therapeutic reasons and “other uses incidental at a health resort.” A system separate from the city’s drinking water system was built to deliver Soap Lake’s mineral-rich, alkaline water to homes and businesses across the city. But most of it currently does not work because it was never metered or properly maintained, the report says.

“A great deal of the system has been taken off-line and abandoned in place,” the report reads. “Mineral water service is no longer available to users west of Division Street.”

According to the report, the system consists of a lakeshore pump house to draw mineral water from the lake in line with Aster Street behind what is now the Community Evangelical Free Church, a 95,000-gallon storage tank overlooking the town on Scenic Drive, and roughly six miles of distribution pipe, much of it made of asbestos cement and dating from the 1940s.

A map of the system was based on a hand-drawn map done in 1987, the report said, adding that an evaluation at the time found mineral water pipes were “located in a common trench” with the city’s municipal water mains.

“It should be noted that the total length of mineral water distribution pipe is approximate, as no construction plans exist for the system,” the report noted.

Currently, there are only five working connections to the mineral water system — two private residences, Healing Water Spa downtown, and the cottages and lodge operated by Soap Lake Natural Spa and Resort.

But the city envisions something potentially bigger, and hopes that a refurbished and expanded mineral water system could attract new development and even new jobs to Soap Lake.

One of the report’s proposals is construction of a heated “community pool,” “Roman bath” or spa that would allow for year-round tourism, and a “wellness center” at McKay Hospital that would include “a mineral water bathing facility.”

The city is even looking at revamping the entire system and ensuring that everyone in Soap Lake can have access to mineral water.

But whatever the city does, it will cost money, and the Soap Lake City Council has decided not to seek state aid or go into debt over the mineral water system. Providing mineral water to every home and most businesses in the city would cost an estimated $10 million, while a public spa would cost $3.7 million and a wellness center at the hospital could cost as much as $17.7 million, the report notes.

“The costs to upgrade the system are high and very dependent on what type of businesses would be connected and at which location in the city,” the report said. “It is likely that any major expansion or upgrades of the system would need to include private development funds where a private business such as a hotel or spa that wanted to connect to the system would need to participate in the required improvements to the system.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].