The picture is not as rosy as they originally thought.

Last spring, Eastsound Sewer and Water District (ESWD) dug two wells in the Highlands as part of its plan to provide water service to the neighborhood. The first well was dry, but the second was fruitful. After months of pumping the well and testing it (the total bill to date for the project is $90,000), the board sent the results to Steve Deem with the state department of health for his feedback. He came to Orcas on Tuesday to share his take on the project. Deem outlined two primary concerns with the well: quantity and quality.

He said the 19 gallons per minute projection is “good but it’s not a slam dunk in my opinion. But you’re in the ballpark.”

Nineteen gallons per minute would meet the neighborhood’s needs during most months, but demand in the summer would require significant storage. Deem added that many fractured bedrock wells he has seen in the San Juans decrease their output over time. He suggested setting up water storage or using multiple wells. Several Highlands residents previously told the district they would offer their wells as back-up.

Deem’s second concern was more problematic for the board.

“This well is being influenced by surface water,” he said, referring to the low levels of E. coli and manganese in the water. “It’s hard for me to imagine that you could do anything that would be convince me, or my department, that this source isn’t being affected by surface water … this triggers a new set of requirements.”

Deem said the water would need to undergo chlorination and filtration to be approved by the health department. That means building a treatment plant and hiring an operator, which could drive up the cost of water service to homeowners.

“You’re in a unique situation,” Deem told the Highlands representatives. “You have an existing water system. So you have to decide what this is worth to you.”

Board member Greg Ayers asked if the district could redevelop the well and put a seal between the ground and the pipe, thus eliminating surface water intrusion.

“Yes, you can,” said Deem, “but it will decrease your gallons per minute (because the well would be drawing from ground water only).”

History of the project

In February 2008, voters in the Highlands approved annexation to the Eastsound Sewer and Water District. One of the homeowners’ goals was to discontinue their contract with Washington Water Services, a for-profit company whose rates are governed by the state utilities and transportation commission. Instead, the Highlands wanted to have a publicly owned water system with ESWD.

As it stands now, the Highlands owns its system and buys water in bulk from Washington Water, a company that provides service to 300 Washington water systems. Washington Water is also the utility company for the Rosario neighborhood. It gets all of its water from Cascade Lake.

“The vote of approval for annexation established that the Highlands are now part of the district’s service areas of responsibility,” commissioner Ed Sutton told the Sounder. “The district concluded that it needed to proceed to develop an alternative source of water for the Highlands properties in order to address their frustration that the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission was burdening them with a disproportionately high charge for water.”

In order to proceed further, the district will need to complete its application for water rights, develop a water system plan, and engineer the system for full-source development, all of which will require significant expenditures.

“The district will not proceed further without the ‘buy in’ of the Highlands homeowners to include transferring ownership of its distribution system to the district,” Sutton said. “The district’s position has always been that the entire cost of this venture was the responsibility of the property owners that would be served by the completed system. To date, the district has advanced $90,000 on behalf of the Highlands folks.”

Highlands board president Judith Cook said the board will decide at its meeting on Tuesday what their next step will be.

“We were disappointed in the results of the well testing,” Cook said. “We will vote Tuesday on how to proceed.”