2010 Annual Water Quality Report - CWD - Covington Water District

Sources Of Drinking WaterMost of your water comes from the Green River in south KingCounty. The Green River Watershed is a 231-square-mile forestedarea that serves as a collection point for melting snow and seasonalrainfall in an uninhabited area of the Cascade Mountains betweenChinook and Snoqualmie passes. Tacoma Water owns land along theriver, which accounts for approximately 11 percent of the watershed.Partnership For The CommunityIn 2010, RWSS Partners initiated the Green River Water Supply FiltrationProject. Once completed, the filtration facility will be capable of treatingup to 150 million gallons of water per day. Filtration will insure that ourCustomers receive a higher quality and more reliable source of water forgenerations to come. The Green River Treatment Facility is scheduledto go online in late 2014.Through agreements with other landowners, Tacoma limits accessand carefully controls all activities within the watershed such asrecreation, road maintenance and logging. Tacoma also owns andoperates seven wells on the North Fork of the Green River within thewatershed and takes water from those sources during periods whenGreen River water is unavailable due to high turbidity.Covington Water District supplements the Green River supply, alsoreferred to as the Regional Water Supply System (RWSS), with it ownground water sources located in proximities near Lake Wilderness,Pipe Lake, and Lake Sawyer.This project will provide significantly improvedreliability, and substantial water quality benefits including:vProtection against a broad range of contaminants,including giardia and cryptosporidium.vImproved taste, odor, and appearance of the water.vReduced amounts of silt and sand entering the water system.vMinimized natural organic material, which helps reducebyproducts from disinfection processes.Howard Hanson Dam Green River Water Supply4