Whidbey Island residents who worry about there being enough water in the future, don’t despair.

During the most recent meeting of the Island County Board of Health, Chris Kelley, the county’s hydrogeologist, provided a presentation on environmental health and drinking water availability.

On Whidbey, Group B water systems serve three to 14 connections and fewer than 25 people per day or 25 or more people per day for fewer than 60 days per year. Group A water systems, on the other hand, serve 15 or more connections, or 25 or more people per day for 60 or more days per year.

As Kelley explained, Group B systems have to meet Island County code requirements. They have less stringent testing requirements and do not have to consider components like fire hydrants. While the island has more Group B and two-party well systems, a larger population is served by Group A systems.

“When we look at those systems, it’s not just about pulling water out of the aquifer, but it’s about getting the water out of the aquifer, making sure we’re meeting any sort of treatment requirements, whether it’s filtration, chlorination,” Kelley said.

One of the concerns is the quantity of water specially for shoreline neighborhoods and seawater intrusion, which includes wells near Ebey’s Landing, West Beach, Greenbank and Mutiny Bay, among other areas.

People can use the ICGeoMap on the county’s website to find out if their home is located within a Group A or Group B water system.

“We have about another 600 Group Bs and another 600 two-party and then, just for comparison, there’s about 7,600 individual wells in Island County that are serving one household,” Kelley said.

There are connections available on the systems, and even the ones that are at capacity can still get more connections approved by the state Department of Health and Island County if it’s shown there is no seawater intrusion.

Water that’s lost between the well and the meter – a distribution system leakage – must be under 10%, per state standards. In 2021, Group A systems in the county lost 190 million gallons. In comparison, those same systems used an average of 143 gallons per day per connection. Kelley said it’s difficult to find the source of leaks, especially in the Pacific Northwest when the grass is green almost year-round.

There are no metering or reporting requirements for Group B systems, two-party systems or individual wells.

Kelley acknowledged that there have been some concerns in the community about having enough water available.

“We have the water available to add all the new homes that we need right now, without doing any new science, without doing new engineering, without adding new water systems,” he said, adding that it’s about encouraging development in established service areas.

A graph showed drinking water consumption in the county to be the highest between the months of May and October, most likely due to demand for exterior irrigation purposes. Kelley said some homeowner’s associations in the county require people to have a green lawn.

“There’s some people that no matter how expensive you make the water, they want the lush green grass, they want the Better Homes and Garden magazine cover lawn,” he said.

County Commissioner Melanie Bacon pointed to aging water systems that would be expensive to replace. With the changing political landscape, Kelley was unsure which federal funds are still available for infrastructure. At the state level, there are grants and loans available for Group A systems but not for Group B systems.

County commissioners also asked about PFAS contamination in the wells. Kelley responded that Group A systems are required to test for it at least once by the end of this year. Two water systems in the county have exceeded a PFAS maximum contaminant level, and they were in an individual well.

County Commissioner Jill Johnson asked about reducing individual water consumption. Kelley said some water systems use a weighted fee structure to encourage conservation.

Bacon said her constituents tend to get anxious about the amount of water available to support the community.

“I’m hearing, tell me if I’m wrong, that a takeaway from this is that it’s really more about water quality than it is quantity here in Island County, as we’re working on our comp plan,” she said.

Kelley responded that it’s not just water quality but the infrastructure, which needs to be maintained.

“I can’t tell you a lot of things about how much water you’re going to need in the future, how many houses are going to be on Whidbey Island,” he said. “But what I can tell you is, with a guarantee, however much it costs to fix a pipe today is cheaper than it will be tomorrow.”

County Commissioner Janet St. Clair noted that water availability is often a misunderstood topic. County officials agreed to work on improving communications to the public.

“We don’t have a water crisis in all scenarios,” Johnson said. “Some people have saltwater intrusion, we’ve got to figure that out on a one-off basis, but we do not have a countywide situation on our hands.”

Bacon said it’s a good idea to be conscious of aquifer recharge and protecting sources of water as well as infrastructure needs.