Small community water systems can be big expense for state

YAKIMA -- Don Foster would gladly connect his Terrace Heights home to Yakima County's water system.

Being on county water would eliminate a lot of the headaches that come with being part owner of a private water system that serves 11 other homes in his tiny neighborhood off Terrace Heights Drive called Charlene Heights.

Foster, a 23-year resident of the area, worries about the condition of the galvanized steel pipes that distribute water from the well. He also wonders when the pump may give out.

Plus, he's had to dig into his own pockets when others on the system couldn't come up with their $15 monthly maintenance fee.

"Those would become the county's headaches, not ours," Foster said in a recent interview.

But with a cost of at least $3,000, hooking up to the county would be expensive.

"If somebody would help with the funding, I'd be all for it," Foster said.

He and his neighbors likely will be waiting a long time for help.

The residents of Charlene Heights aren't alone in their headaches. There are an estimated 700 community water systems in Yakima County, each serving from two to 1,000 households. Most are owned and operated by homeowners' associations, though some, like Charlene Heights, have turned to professional water managers to handle the testing and maintenance.

These little water operations range from flawless to troubled, and when one fails -- a well goes dry or equipment malfunctions -- the state is often asked to step in to bail it out. For example, one well serving the tiny Rock Ridge water system with six connections in the hills above Terrace Heights went dry in 2005. The state paid $270,000 to drill a new well and build a storage reservoir -- the equivalent of nearly $40,000 per household.

State legislators have shelled out more than $18 million to prop up small water systems around the state since 2003 and they're tired of it, said Denise Clifford, director of the Office of Drinking Water in the state Department of Health.

It's an expensive way to fix an ongoing problem with small systems that, Clifford said, are more vulnerable to both financial and operational failure than larger, municipal systems.

"What the legislature is saying is that there are a lot of small water systems going to their legislators asking for money to fix their problems," Clifford said in a telephone interview.

"But in this economy, why are we having to continue giving money to small water systems?"

Some solutions are proposed in a report released in July by Clifford's office. Among them are limiting the creation of new water systems whenever possible and providing more state money to consolidate small systems into larger ones.

The department said at least $12 million is needed for such consolidation, but it was recently turned down by legislators scrambling to close a multi-billion dollar budget deficit.

When it's not possible for new developments to connect to existing systems, the state proposes asking homeowners to turn their water system over to what's called a satellite management agency to own and operate.

But many small system owners resist, citing the additional cost -- $50 a month or more -- of paying a professional water manager.

In Yakima County, there are three approved satellite management agencies: Yakima County, the Nob Hill Water Association, and the newest, Valley Water Services, started by Bennett Osborne, president of Valley Environmental Laboratory in Yakima.

Of those approximately 700 small water systems scattered around Yakima County, many are tiny "Group B" systems with 14 or fewer households that are virtually unregulated.

The state defines small water systems as those serving fewer than 1,000 households, and further breaks them down between Group A and B systems.

Group B systems don't have to meet Federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards, but under state law are supposed to be tested annually for coliform bacteria.

But whether they perform these tests is largely unknown. Last year, the Legislature cut $1.4 million from the Health Department's budget that paid local health districts to keep at least a minimal eye on Group B systems. The state Board of Health is trying to figure out how to step in the breach.

From the data it has on Group A community water systems, the state knows that they generate most of the water quality violations.

"Many are not meeting even basic water quality requirements," the Health Department concluded in its July report.

For example, in 2007, small water systems accounted for nearly all violations issued for failing to test for potentially harmful bacteria, such as E.coli., a germ that causes severe cramps and diarrhea.

One such system that came to the state's attention last spring was the Hillview Water Association of Selah. The system serves about 30 households in the Kinne Lane area of east Selah.

Health officials fined the system $12,600 for repeatedly failing to monitor for potentially harmful substances over a three-year period. Clifford at the time called the problems "more than a couple of slip-ups."

The water system's operator, who also happens to work in the water-works division of the city of Selah, had his license revoked for a year, an action he is appealing.

The homeowners have since hired Rusty Jordan of Water Tech, a Yakima company that operates community systems. The fine on the homeowners was reduced to $1,000 and Jordan said he's putting a management plan together for the system to look at long-range improvements.

But Jordan said he sees a lot of unintentional mismanagement at small water systems because homeowners don't want to spend a lot of money.

"You get Joe who borrows his neighbor's backhoe and contaminates the well, and you see a lot of Mickey Mouse fittings," Jordan said.

Jordan and Osborne, another water systems operator, believe the state wants to limit the growth of small water systems by forcing them to consolidate with larger, municipal systems.

They both predict a fight on that.

"People don't want to give up their well water for chlorinated city water. As long as that small system is properly maintained and there's no threat to public health, why do that?" Osborne said.

Clifford said the state isn't planning to force anyone off their community wells. But she has a warning for homeowners who move into new subdivisions where the developer has set up a community system.

"What I fear is that people who move into these places don't have a clue whether the water that comes out of the tap is safe to drink."

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

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