Clark Public Utilities (CPU) announced on Tuesday, Dec. 9 that it was awarded an $11 million forgivable loan to improve and sustain a healthy drinking water supply for the town of Yacolt.
The loan for construction on the Yacolt Satellite System Consolidation Project was issued with full principal forgiveness through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), which is overseen by the Washington state Department of Health.
Of 43 construction loan applicants, the Yacolt Satellite System Consolidation Project was one of 21 recipients of DWSRF-subsidized funding, and one of three awarded a fully subsidized loan.
“Revolving fund selections are highly competitive, and every detail can mean the difference
between qualifying or not,” said President of the Clark Public Utilities Board of Commissioners
Nancy Barnes in a press release by CPU. “Our application’s impressive ranking reflects how dedicated our employees are to being good stewards of our customers’ funds and to ensuring safe and reliable drinking water supply for the community of Yacolt.”
The town of Yacolt is on one of Clark Public Utilities’ 24 satellite water systems, but it will soon be added to the existing 875 miles of water main the utility operates countywide.
Clark Public Utilities media specialist Dameon Pesanti said in a previous Reflector article that the majority of Yacolt households and buildings with restrooms are served by septic systems to dispose of waste rather than sewer, which creates a risk of groundwater contamination.
The two wells serving Yacolt draw from a shallow aquifer.
“When you have an area of high concentrations of septic systems, whatever chemicals or materials you put down in your sink or down your drain, down your toilet, can eventually make their way into the ground and then percolate down into the groundwater water supply,” he said in a previous interview, adding that additional town growth will lower the aquifer level, increasing the concentration of possible contaminants.
CPU first acquired the town of Yacolt’s water supply in October 2000 to operate and maintain the satellite system, Pesanti added in 2024.
“The system has really grown,” Pesanti said previously. “In 2020, there were 161 connections. Today, there are 646, and the town is projected to grow by about one and a quarter percent over the future. And, you know, it’s great that there’s growth and development up there, but at the same time, that poses problems for that groundwater supply.”
The funding award is expected to cover 95 percent of the cost of consolidating Yacolt’s water system into the Clark Public Utilities water system. Clark Public Utilities’ water supply meets or exceeds all state and federal requirements for quality, the release stated.
Most of the utility’s wells are located in the Salmon Creek watershed. Connecting the two systems requires the installation of 5.1 miles of 12-inch water main from Northeast Yacolt Mountain Road through Northeast Kelly Road, and along Northeast WH Garner Road, the release adds.
After the interconnection project is complete, the wells serving the town of Yacolt will be deactivated and used only during emergencies or rare periods of extreme demand, CPU stated.
“Clark Public Utilities’ commitment to delivering essential electric and water services safely,
reliably and at the lowest possible cost has earned it top rankings in customer satisfaction from
independent nationwide industry surveys,” the release stated. “The utility maintains the lowest per customer operations and maintenance costs of any public utility district in Washington, according to the Washington Public Utility District Association, 2024 Sourcebook.”
