HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-27 EMC testimony (09-24) Holmes, Stephen - Reclaimed Water | Sequim, WA
From: Stephen Holmes
Date: Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 7:06 AM
Subject: Reclaimed Water | Sequim, WA
To: Ramzi Mansour
Cc: Richard (Rick) Bennett, Kate Logan, Dee Fulton, Rick Gaffney, Georjean Adams, Jeff Zimpfer
Ramzi:
I bought a home recently for my daughter in Sequim Washington which has a population of only 8,000.
Two water recycling facilities. One is private and the other operated by the City of Sequim. See link here.
https://www.sequimwa.gov/353/Reclaimed-Water
Here is a water feature in the park nearby.
All the ballfields and grounds use recycled water. Even the toilets in the restroom use recycled water.
Sequim is largely a retirement community with modest well priced housing, yet they have seen the
wisdom of water recycling and pulled it off in style.
Hopefully, we can end the use of injection wells and the sump at Kealakehe that pollutes our
recreational coastal waters in favor of water recycling. The EMC has set the policy and water recycling
pays for itself by generating revenue. We can do this.
The County faces considerable legal exposure with the sump discharges now that the U.S. Supreme
Court has affirmed the need for an NPDES permit. The science is clear that there is a direct hydrologic
connection from the sump to impaired coastal waters.
DOBOR is moving on connecting Honokohau Harbor and securing federal funds, but this will add even
more flows to Kealakehe and make the situation worse. They will need to do a federal environmental
review and this will certainly come up as an issue. Other projects in the service area like the housing
project up Hina Lani will be bringing increasing flows to Kealakehe in the near future. While the current
engineering plan was bonkers, somehow we need a path forward and soon.
Mayor Roth has announced sustainability as a County priority and with federal and private funding
opportunities, now is the time to end decades of pollution while addressing climate resilience through
water recycling.
I know you understand the challenge. If tiny towns like Sequim can pull this off, so can we with your
leadership and engineering skills.
Feel free to call on me to assist in any way I can.
Steve Holmes