Warden water system in need of TLC

WARDEN — While the city of Warden has more than enough water to meet projected needs for the next 20 years; however, the city still needs to make significant investments in its delivery system to make sure water can continue to get to residents.

“You have the capacity you need for 20 years. You’re already there,” said Jamin Ankney, an engineer with Seattle-based consultancy Grey and Osborne, which is helping the city revise its comprehensive water plan. “From a capacity perspective, your water system is in really good shape.”

Ankney said Warden’s three wells are capable of pumping 5,600 gallons per minute, far more than the town’s peak expected peak daily demand of 3,863 gallons-per-minute in 2023, and that the city’s 2.3 million gallons of water tower storage, as well as a pumping station, are more than adequate to maintain water pressure in town.

In addition, Justin Wies, an engineer in training with Grey and Osborne, said that while leakage from the water system has risen in the last few years, the city has managed to keep it under 10%, a Washington State Department of Health requirement for certifying municipal water systems.

“The city has been very good about keeping a very low (distribution system leakage),” Wies said. “We have noticed in the previous few years, though, that has been coming up, and we’re not entirely sure why.”

Both Wies and Ankner said the city’s food processors add significantly to the city’s water demand. In 2020, Warden delivered water to 732 residences housing roughly 2,800 people, while the city’s food processors used water equivalent to just over 2,700 households. In fact, Wies said in their study of Warden’s water use they took a three-year average of consumption from 2018-2020 as their baseline because the fire that gutted Washington Potato in January 2021 had a tremendous effect on the city’s water use that year.

“That really affected the water consumption,” he said. “It actually dropped 20% in that year alone. And so we didn’t feel that was a representative starting point.”

In 2043, the final year in the city’s 20-year water plan, Ankney said peak demand for water in Warden is still only expected to reach 4,617 gallons per minute — well below the current maximum production from the city’s wells.

Both Ankney and Wies said even with the good news that Warden should have enough water for the next two decades of residential and industrial use, the city does face some challenges with its water system that make the concern one of infrastructure rather than supply. The coatings inside both water towers are old, and in one tower the coating is beginning to fail. The city’s booster station that helps maintain pressure within the entirety of the water system needs to be replaced, and a number of water mains are old steel or asbestos concrete from the 1940s and 1950s, not big enough, and need to be replaced in order to keep enough water pressure in the system for effective firefighting.

“As it starts to rust, you’ll see leaks, and that's concerning,” Ankney said. “It might be okay now, but in 30 years, if there’s nothing done, then all of sudden your DSL will go through the roof.”

In addition, Ankner said the discovery of the soil fumigant ethylene dibromide – also known as EDB – in water pumped at times from two of the city’s wells, prompting the city to take those wells offline until the chemical is no longer present, also poses risk.

“If there’s an EDB hit that takes a well offline, that gives us some nerves,” he said.

Over the next ten years, both Ankner and Wies said the city needs to spend about $15.6 million on improvements to the water system, with the largest portion of that — $11.8 million — needed for replacement of water mains across the city. Ankner said the city should apply for grants and low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office, the Washington State Department of Health’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund, and other specialized development funds, including targeted appropriations sponsored by local legislators.

“You’ve used a number of these in the past,” Ankner said. “We would go and look at these again to look at improvements in the future.”

Following approval of the report, the Warden City Council gave both Ankner and Wies approval to submit the analysis and recommendations to the Washington State Department of Health.

“We know we have aging systems,” said Kristine Schuler, Warden city administrator and clerk-treasurer. “But this (study) really does law a system and a plan for the city over the next 10 to 20 years to be able to move forward.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.