A five-year effort from citizens of the Wollochet Harbor Club to improve their water quality culminated with a triumphant ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.

As they stood inside a new pumping operations building to shelter from the rain on Friday, several key players in the $2.3 million project celebrated its completion.

“I didn’t know anything about water when we started,” said Grant Williams, who lives at the Wollochet Harbor Club development and is one of the volunteers who led the improvement project. “Now, I probably know too much.”

Wollochet Harbor Club was built in 1957, with four additions since, and totals 87 homes that surround Wollochet Bay. The original developer installed the community’s plumbing. Fifty years later, it was showing signs of major wear and tear.

“Our system was a sieve,” said resident Kevin Jacobsen, who remembered discolored bathtubs, dirt in dishwashers and low water pressure, especially from fire hydrants.

High levels of manganese and iron caused stains to clothes and appliances, Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen, Williams and other residents began to plan for a way to upgrade their water system, and they sought an affordable solution to pre-empt a breakdown of the outdated pipes that would leave community members footing the bill for a total replacement.

Volunteers organized a community vote, and members approved moving forward to find a solution.
First, the old well on View Point Drive had to be drilled and tested to see if the area was suitable for replacement. Williams and others then began a lengthy process of applying for loans, but they were turned away by Pierce County, state and other agencies as the economy was in the midst of the recession.

“No one would touch us, with the economy in the tank,” Williams said. “But then we got very lucky with our timing.”

The Wollochet group had applied for a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus, enacted by the federal government in 2009. The 40-year loan came through at just the right time – the water system project was one of the last two in the southwest district of Washington state to receive USDA stimulus funding.

The design and funding for the project was obligated in 2010, although construction didn’t begin until last June. Some pieces of the original proposal had to be removed for cost purposes, such as an extra wall and a few sinks and drains, although the group has the option to add those features at a later date should they seek more funding.

By the time the project was completed earlier this month, a new well had been drilled to 230 feet, backwash recycling tanks had been added to the water pump building to help conserve water, and more than 10,000 feet of new pipes had been installed.

The community also boasts 10 new fire hydrants, as well as a new treatment system to remove iron and manganese from its water.

The system will be controlled, mostly electronically, from the operations building, which houses pumps, filters and chlorators, in addition to the system’s control panels.

The 87 households already have seen their water improve, Williams said.

“The water is beautiful now,” he said. “Crystal clear.”

Jacobsen added the benefits will pay off for decades as community members slowly pay back the USDA.

“We’ll have great water for the next 50 years,” he said.