Perhaps the best “diagnostic” tool for identifying problems with any small water system is a Sanitary Survey which is a comprehensive inspection mandated for Group A ground water systems by the Federal Government (CFR 141.401) with responsibility delegated to Washington State via its Administrative Code (WAC 246-290-416). In Island County, Sanitary Surveys of systems with more complex treatment facilities or special problems are conducted by the NW Regional Engineer for the State Department of Health, Office of Drinking Water. More routine Surveys are delegated to officials in the County Health Department. While these are not “White Glove” inspections as in … Continue reading WIWSA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JUNE, 2017

“WHAT’S THIS AWFUL STUFF IN MY WATER?  AND HOW DO I GET RID OF IT?”  I have gotten calls like this about once a month since we posted our WIWSA website with my telephone number on it. The frequency of these calls tells me two things: one, the “demographic” on our island is changing.  More and more folks are moving here with the expectation that their drinking water will be of the same quality as it was in City “X” somewhere on the mainland.  The other thing is that our association has to put more emphasis on explaining the need … Continue reading WIWSA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE September, 2016

Just recently, I had the pleasure and opportunity to sit with three representatives of a local ground water system which had just added new residents to their community and were moving up from a Group B to a Group A water system.  You all know our WIWSA mantra about the smartest thing that a Group B can do is to behave like a Group A water system by observing the federal and state rules for the larger systems.  Those rules were put into place in order to protect communities from unsafe drinking water and unwise business practices. The folks who … Continue reading WIWSA President’s Message June 2016

WIWSA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE March, 2016 I believe that everyone who attended our December Quarterly Members’ Meeting (which was also our annual meeting) agreed that the tryout of the “World Café” was a success.  For more than an hour all of our board members, our Group A and Group B membership representatives and two members of the State Department of Health Office of Drinking Water sat in “conversation circles” to voice their concerns about the condition of small ground water systems here on Whidbey Island.  We were able to capture the sense of those concerns and that information will morph into … Continue reading WIWSA President’s Message March 2016

We are approaching our last Quarterly Member’s Meeting for this year, scheduled for 6:00 pm, December 16, 2015 at the Race Road Fire Station.  This meeting will double as our Annual meeting and we will attend to “housekeeping” duties like electing directors and presenting our budget for 2016 to be voted on by our members in attendance. Over the last few quarterly meetings we have explored issues like consolidation of small water systems, preparations for natural disasters, and the sources of funding for needed replacements and improvements.  For this meeting our Board of Directors decided to organize a “World Café” … Continue reading WIWSA President’s Message December 2015

WIWSA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE September, 2015 I would not be surprised to learn that more than a few of our member water systems are in need of an important upgrading of treatment equipment, replacement of well and / or distribution pumps or piping or expensive repairs or improvements of some sort.  If we pay the attention that we should to the “water works” on which we rely for our most basic human requirement we all find wear and tear or simple obsolescence that we cannot ignore indefinitely. Recognizing the needs of our water systems is easy, but finding the money to … Continue reading President’s Message, September 2015