Above: Tribal elder Bob Sison holds a commemorative
glass given to participants of today’s dedication of the McAllister Wellfield, the site of Olympia's new water supply.
By
Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com
“This
is the beginning of a new journey. Father, Grandfather, hear me, Spirit of our
People, hear me. We thank you, thank you for joining hands with another world.
We thank you for the mountain, for it brings us the water, the water that we
will share. May the mountain never run dry, or if it does, so will our lands,
so will our people. Watch over and guide and protect everyone who is here. Give
them your physical, mental and spiritual strength…show them the way….You’ve
brought our people a long ways, you’ve left us the gift of water. Let the
rivers never run dry…the pumps…keep them strong. Keep the water flowing, for
this is an honor to join hands with Olympia, their people. We pray that the
water will give them strength, especially to the children. Help them to
remember, teach them, teach them the way, the way it was. The pure of the
water, the pure of the land. We ask this, we thank you Grandfather, Creator of
Heaven and Earth….Masi…masi…” Tribal Elder, chaplain
Bob Sison, offering the blessing at today’s dedication of the McAllister
Wellfield.
And so began an emotional ceremony today as local
city and state officials and tribal representatives spoke at the dedication ceremony
of Olympia's new water source at the McAllister Wellfield today.
Words such as ‘commitment,’ ‘visionary,’ and ‘challenging,’
were also used to describe the efforts that led to today’s event, which marked a
unique partnership between the City of Olympia and the Nisqually Tribe.
The city’s new wellfield replaces McAllister
Springs, which is located on Nisqually tribal land, as the city’s primary water
source. Located about a mile away from the Springs on 20 acres of city-owned
property on St. Claire Cut Off Road SE, the new site includes over 160
surrounding acres that are protected from future development.
The McAllister Wellfield water supply will provide
high quality, protected drinking water to the regional community over the next
50 years and beyond.
Putting that figure into perspective, the Nisqually Tribe
has been using McAllister Springs, which they call Medicine Springs, for 10,000
years.
Living in peace and prosperity in their original homeland of over two
million acres, Nisqually land encompassed the present towns of Olympia, Tenino,
Dupont, Yelm, Roy, and Eatonville, and extended to the top of Mount Rainier.
In her remarks, Nisqually Tribal Chairperson Cynthia Iyall
said, “….Looking around, you see fir trees, you see cedar, you see cottonwoods,
you see oak trees…all these different trees are living together, harmoniously,
and they share the same water. I was told when I was younger that cedar loves
to be near the water, near the river because they loved to dig their roots in,
to get their toes wet. And that was so important to the Nisqually tribe because
it was such a mainstay in our lives. It’s used for clothing, for protection, for
housing, all kinds of things, so we’re glad to be a part of your forest, and
you’re a part of our forest and we are so glad that all these seedlings…coming
up for the next generation will have safe water….”
Iyall thanked her mentor, tribal elder and former Nisqually tribal councilmember, Larry Sanchez, for creating much of the early framework and shared vision for the project.
She later said that the Nisqually Tribe will develop a water supply at
the wellfield in a future phase.
Above: Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder and Lacey Mayor Pro-Tem
Cynthia Pratt cautiously peer into the drain after the Wellhouse 1 pump is turned on for
show and tell. The pump uses a 700 horsepower motor, the same as
a NASCAR race engine, and pumps 6,000 gallons of water per minute. The well is
at a depth of 425 feet.
Rich Hoey, public works director for the City of Olympia, explained the project as a steady stream of elected officials, city staff, and those associated with the project walked through Wellhouse 1.
Seeing the infrastructure first-hand helped to visualize the process of how water from the ground manages to travel the eight and a half miles to the city of Olympia.
There are three wells, each ranging from 370 to 425
feet deep, with an initial pumping capacity of 15 million gallons of water per
day. The wellfield project cost $13.7 million to design and construct, paid largely
with low-interest loans from the Washington Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund.
Partnerships
Aside from physical pipes and plumbing, today’s
ceremony was also about partnerships. In a process that began nearly 22 years
ago, the Olympia-Yelm-Lacey water supply project has involved a collaborative
effort assisted by the state Department of Ecology, the state Department of
Health, the cities, and the Nisqually Indian Tribe.
“It’s a spectacular piece of property,” said Hoey
before the ceremony. “It’s an amazing accomplishment, knowing it’s high quality
water – we’re in good shape. It’s a remarkable thing to have this level of
confidence in our water….”
Ecology Water Resources Program Manager Tom Loranger
was the most specific in detailing the lengthy legal process it took to get
this point.
“It took persistence and partnerships and risk
taking. There were discussions about mitigation and offsets. What does the law
say? How do we develop projects? There were tough times and discussions….There
was no template for doing it. New court decisions changed what we had to do….”
Loranger credited the Smith Farm acquisition several years ago as a critical
piece of the project.
According to City of Olympia records, the cities of
Olympia, Lacey and Yelm jointly purchased about 200 acres of the farm because
it was a critical cold water spring source. Ceasing intensive agricultural
activities on the land combined with habitat restoration directly improved the
summer flows to large portions of the Deschutes River.
“….It was huge…a mile of riparian habitat restored
gave it the final legs that could get it done. We have not seen anything like
this. I talk about it all the time around the state. There were so many
partners, and a number of pieces in play. It’s the gold standard of mitigation
to improve the environment….(The state department of) Fish and Wildlife has
testified to that…the amount of persistence…you made the choice to take some
risks and get this done.”
After the ceremony, Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder said, “The
fact that all these communities came together is historic and something to be
proud of…it should be used as a model for more accomplishments, like clean air.
This project was a new trail, it took time. It was true regionalism.”
Andy Haub, public works planning and engineering
manager for the City of Olympia, said that the city will start tapping the
McAllister Wellfield in about a month.
Editor’s Note: Several Native words were used in the remarks by tribal elder Bob Sison and Nisqually Chair Cynthia Iyall. Little Hollywood apologizes for not knowing how to write those words. Asked later what “….Masi…masi….” meant, Sison said, “It means thank you. It’s a very thankful word….”
A
Brief History
McAllister Springs has supplied most of Olympia’s
drinking water since 1949. Studies indicated that the springs are susceptible
to land use impacts, which could diminish water quality during periods of heavy
demand and drought. To address these concerns, the City of Olympia decided to
replace its supply source with high-capacity wells.
In the 1990s, the city identified and purchased 20
acres for a wellfield. Studies of the site showed that the wellfield site taps
a large sustainable aquifer with high quality water.
In May 2008, the City of Olympia and the Nisqually
Indian Tribe entered into a historic agreement - the first such agreement
between a tribe and a municipality in the country - to jointly develop the new
regional water source at McAllister Wellfield.
In 2012, after working together for many years to
gather data, refine computer models and predict potential impacts, the state Department
of Ecology presented the Olympia City Council with the final approval for
transferring water rights to the new wellfield.
Subsequent construction projects included a nearly
one mile of 36-inch diameter pipeline to connect the new wellfield to the city’s
existing water transmission main at McAllister Springs. 
Above: Participants of today’s celebration and
dedication of the McAllister Wellfield include, left, public works director for the City of Olympia, Rich Hoey, local elected officials including Olympia and Lacey city council members, Nisqually Tribal members and staff, and members of the public. Olympia Mayor Stephen Buxbaum, in brown suit with blue shirt, is standing next to Nisqually Tribal Council Chairperson Cynthia Iyall.
