BICKLETON --Surrounded by vast wheatfields and a skyline studded with wind turbines, this tiny community high atop the Horse Heaven Hills shares a common problem with the Lower Yakima Valley: nitrates in its drinking water.

For the first time in its more than 130-year history, the unincorporated community of Bickleton may have to develop a community water system.

Like some parts of the rural Lower Valley, wells here show unacceptably high levels of nitrates. Unlike the Lower Valley, Bickleton's population is small and a single solution may resolve much of the problem, but the issue is complicated by cost and implications for future growth.

But without a system, residents might have to spend thousands of dollars each to treat their own water.

"Why would you clean up one well when you can clean up the whole town?" asked Mike Copenhefer, president of the Bickleton Community Council, a nonprofit group of residents steering the project.

A public water system for about 40 homes and business would cost more than $1 million, said John Grim, a civil engineer from Lyle, Wash., who wrote a feasibility study on a water system for Bickleton.

And while such a system would provide cleaner water, some residents worry it could prompt more growth than they want in this small community.

If government grants can be found to finance half the system, residences, businesses and the Bickleton School District would pay $65 per month for service, the report said.

A survey, also included in the study, shows that 68 percent of the residents favor the idea of a public water supply.

Nitrates have been documented for 10 years, but they've likely been in the water longer, Grim said.

In the Lower Valley, the source of nitrates that have contaminated an estimated 20 percent of some 30,000 private wells is unclear. Authorities say the nitrates could come from fertilizers, septic tanks placed too close to wells or the manure from the large number of dairy farms.

In Bickleton, authorities say it's septic tanks located too close to inadequately protected wells. The same pathway to the wells offers a chance for other contaminates, such as E. coli, fecal coliform and other bacteria.

One notable nitrate problem is at the Bluebird Inn, a restaurant and bar that shares a well with the community's only other restaurant, the Market Street Café.

The water from the private well has routinely tested for nitrates higher -- at one point double -- than the federal limit for public water supplies.

Both restaurants post state-mandated warnings for customers. The inn, owned by Nelda Flores, makes its lemonade and iced tea with bottled water, while the café, owned by Jennifer and Greg Wilson, serves the well water.

Drinking water high in nitrates and other contaminates can pose risks to infants, pregnant women, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems and may worsen conditions for people suffering heart or lung diseases or cancer.

State health regulators are allowing that to continue while the community works to develop a public water supply. If it doesn't fly, those businesses will have to either fix their well, drill a new one or treat their water to the tune of up to $16,000.

"Jennifer and I would have to have to come up with something else," Flores said.

Meanwhile, a reliable public water supply could attract more people, which some here desire -- but only in limited amounts.

"If we're going to have anything here in the future, a water supply is one thing we're going to need," Greg Wilson said.

Bickleton is appreciated by residents and visitors alike for its remoteness, vistas of pine and oak hillsides, bluebird houses and a carousel museum. It has no gas service for outsiders and the two restaurants are popular stops for both motorcycle tourists and farmers.

"There are some people who don't want to see any growth at all," said Copen-hefer, a fourth-generation wheat farmer who does not live in town but owns property there.

However, some residents would like to see more housing for the workers that keep the turbines turning in Klickitat County's rapidly growing wind energy industry. Locals could think of only two technicians living in Bickleton. The others commute from the Tri-Cities, Goldendale or the Columbia Gorge.

Water system proponents said outsiders have no incentive to buy property in town, where buildings were constructed close together over the decades. They would need to buy two or three blocks to have enough room for both a septic system and a safe well.

The issue has left resident Bob Chapman torn.

The Klickitat County road supervisor lives in town with a well and septic system he installed in 1997, after earlier attempt at a public water supply failed. Unlike other wells, his is cased with concrete to prevent septic contamination.

He also owns four rental trailers in town.

"Sixty to $100 per user, that seems like a like lot of money for those trailer spaces," he said.

However, he would like to see growth in the community, too.

He misses the hardware store, once a True Value franchise, which drastically has cut down its inventory the past five years. And he would hate to see the restaurants fold for lack of patrons.

He also owns another old home in town he is considering renovating for a bed and breakfast.

"To some extent, there needs to be growth," he said.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.