EWSD sets the record straight

There have been accusations in the “Letters to the Editor” of the Islands’ Sounder about a nefarious scheme by the owners of the Country Corner to have sewer services extended to that area of Eastsound.

Let’s set the record straight! In 1997, the Eastsound Sewer and Water District expanded its treatment facility with the clear intention of providing sewer services throughout the Eastsound basin. The service boundary of the district on the east side is Terrill’s Beach Road.

As early as 2000, the district had developed plans to extend the collection lines east on Mt. Baker Road and then south through the woods behind the Madan properties and Crescent Service. The intention has been to eventually connect all properties along that extension including those homes on Montgomery Lane.

Those older homes are representative of the existing, mutual, non-rural neighborhoods that the district is studying to determine if old, tired septic drainfields are a threat to the health and safety of the Eastsound community, the environment and the water aquifer.

By 2003, the district had completed, as required by the State DOE, its General Sewer Capital Facilities Plan, which clearly showed the sewer mainline extension mentioned above. Since that time, the plan has been reviewed by San Juan County Planning and Community Development Department and adopted by the County Council following several public hearings.

So, it is quite apparent that the long-planned intentions of the Eastsound Sewer and Water District to extend sewer collections lines into all remaining neighborhoods of its service area is not a scheme or a nefarious plot. It is a well reasoned plan to protect the Eastsound groundwater source, and the health and safety of the Eastsound community. State law mandates that the district has the responsibility and authority to do so, and it is the intention of the district to proceed with its plan.

Eastsound Sewer and Water District