Lake Tapps, CWA agreement finalized

Published 4:53 pm Tuesday, May 19, 2009

More than 100 residents, along with state and county officials, gathered at the North Tapps Middle School May 13 to hear details of an agreement between Cascade Water Alliance and the Lake Tapps Community Council.

In April, the community council and CWA signed a memorandum of agreement and ended 10 years of discussions.

“We helped save the lake,” said Chuck Romeo, community council president. “Maintaning the lake was all we wanted.”

The agreement will protect the recreation level of the lake and give the growing region served by the CWA an ongoing drinking water resource. After the finalization, officials stated the water right could be completed by the summer.

The alliance is a consortium of “eastside” agencies.

“Cascade will not take any drinking water out of the lake until our recreational needs are meet,” Pierce County Councilman Shawn Bunney said.

Jay Manning, director of the state Department of Ecology, said the negotiations – most times between entities over water rights – have “all the makings of a train wreck.”

Manning said the work between the community council and CWA has been productive.

“We avoided the train wreck and protected the lake, protected the fish and provide water,” Manning said.

Under the agreement, CWA will maintain lake levels between near sea level from April 15 through Sept. 30 through 2040 or until use of Lake Tapps for municipal water supply commences, whichever is later.

After 2040, “CWA will maintain the level from Sept. 15 through Sept. 30 more than 90 percent of the time.”

Also, a lake management team will be established by the parties involved to help CWA plan yearly operations. Membership will include CWA, community council other other appropriate persons or entities. Local government may be invited to the team, the agreement states.

CWA is purchasing the lake from Puget Sound Energy which has owned the lake for about 100 years. The energy utility used the lake as a reservoir for its White River hydroelectric plant, which was closed in January 2004 due to the high cost of obtaining a hydroelectric license.

In 1997, PSE found the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements and the associated costs for a license made the hydroelectric plant too expensive to operate.

By 1999, the community realized the lake was in jeopardy, affecting all who lived on or near the lake and the cities surrounding the body of water.

The state Department of Ecology issued drinking water rights to PSE in 2003, which appeared to be the path to saving the lake for recreation and bringing a needed water source to the region.

After the drinking water rights were issued, the decision was appealed by the Puyallup and Muckleshoot tribes, the cities of Auburn, Algona, Buckley and Pacific and a private individual, Robert Cook.

The Pollution Control Hearings Board ruled DOE had to reconsider the water rights decision once PSE closed the hydroelectric plant.

In 2007, Auburn, Bonney Lake and Sumner offered to purchase the lake from PSE, but CWA put together a $39 million offer. They closed the seal in February 2008.

CWA agreed to pay $25 million for the lake and $5 million once the water rights clear any challenges from the tribes. The remaining $9 million is for operation cost.

Last year, CWA signed agreements with the tribes – paying mitigation funds of $6.8 million to the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and $8.5 million to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.

The agreements with the tribes settled all issues between the parties including flows of water in the White River and protection of fish.

A diversion dam in Buckely diverts water from the river to a flume that fills the lake. Water is released from the lake and returns to the river near Sumner.

On hand for the meeting were District 31 State Rep. Chris Hurst, District 31 State Sen. Pam Roach, Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, County Assessor Jan Shabro (a former District 31 state representative), along with representatives from CWA, Lake Tapps Community Council and the Department of Ecology.

Lake Tapps was created in 1911 and is about 4.5 square miles in surface area and has about 45 miles of shoreline.

Reach Dannie Oliveaux at doliveaux@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald or 360-802-8209.