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Water Depletion Turns Off Development Tap

ISSAQUAH, WA-Until the completion of a new 24" inch line that will connect Issaquah to Seattle's water supply, and the possibility of dipping into appropriately-named Lake Tapps, anything more than minor development is on hold.

By Janet Parker | Updated on July 02, 2001

ISSAQUAH, WA-Thousands of acres of commercial and residential construction in the past several years has depleted this Eastside city’s water supply to the point of halting new development. Fortunately, new sources may not be too far away.

Sheldon Lynne, deputy director of public works and engineering for Issaquah, tells GlobeSt.com, “The city has a certain amount of water supply that has been granted from the State Department of Ecology — the amount of water we can use from the area’s aquifer. Based on those water rights, we have currently allocated (almost) all of that supply to provide for current development.”

There are, in fact, a few water rights to be had, but they are only sufficient for minor projects. “We have about 150-200 ERU that we have left in our ground water utility that have not been allocated. (An ERU being the amount of water expected to provide for a single residence.) However, to prevent those water rights from being guzzled by only a developer or two, the city has limited any new projects at this time to a maximum of 25 ERU. “The idea was to enable the supply to go a little longer and further,” says Lynne.

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