WRIA 14 TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Shelton Civic Center

Shelton, WA

MEETING SUMMARY

Attending: Diane Marcus-Jones & Stephanie Kenny, Mason County; Jeanne Kinney, Thurston County; Theresa Parsons, City of Shelton;  Phil Wiatrak, Chris Evans, & Tammy Hall, Dept. of Ecology; John Konovsky, Squaxin Island Tribe; Warren Dawes, SWPSWC;  John Noble, Citizen; Jim Mathieu & Laura Strauss, NW Land and Water; & Susan Gulick, Sound Resolutions.

1.      Discuss Hydro-Geo Project with Northwest Land and Water  

q       Northwest Land and Water gave a brief presentation of their work to date.  They reviewed geologic cross-sections with the TC and discussed their next steps.

q       They have identified shallow, intermediate and deep wells throughout the study area; their next task is to gain permission to monitor specific wells.

q       They also discussed the benefits of geochemistry data; this is an optional task in their contract that needs PU authorization to proceed.

q       The TC requested that NWL&W provide a description of the specific wells they will monitor after they have received landowner permission.  Based on this information, the PU will be able to direct NWL&W on how to proceed.

q       The TC asked Susan to write a letter to property owners requesting their assistance by allowing access to their wells.  Susan will work with Jim on this and have a letter ready by the next PU meeting.

q       The TC also discussed the benefit of gathering data beyond the six-month period in the current contract.  They asked NWL&W to give them a rough, ball-park figure of what the additional cost would be to gather data for a full year.

q       NWL&W agreed to provide a list of specific wells as well an assessment of their confidence level in the results that would be produced.  They will also provide a ballpark estimate of the costs to monitor for one year, but stressed that these costs could change depending on how the tasks evolve.

2.      Stream Gauging Options  

q       Chris Evans from Ecology came to discuss stream gauging options with the TC.

q       The TC identified the Sherwood and Kennedy as the highest priority streams for receiving gauges.  The third priority is Deer Creek.

q       Chris estimates it will cost about $6,700 per gauge for installation; O&M will cost an additional $6,000 per year.  Ecology may be able to do the O&M if the PU purchases the gauges, but they can only commit to continuing that until the end of the biennium.  After that there are no guarantees that Ecology will have the resources to continue the O&M.

3.      Budget Review

q       The TC reviewed the Planning Unit’s current budget situation.

q       The PU has approximately $22,000 for additional work; this will increase if the PU decides against spending all or part of the money earmarked for the optional geo-chemistry task in the NWL&W contract, or the contingency funds in Plateau’s contract. 

q       The TC discussed the trade-offs between additional well data from NWL&W and stream gauges.  They agreed they need more information on the cost of the well monitoring, as well as other information requested of NWL&W. 

q       This will be discussed further in upcoming meetings.

4.      Updates   

q       The contract with Plateau Communications has been finalized and is awaiting final signature by the County and the consultant. 

5.      Upcoming Meetings

q       The next Planning Unit meeting will be on Wednesday, September 22^nd from 2:30-4:30 at the Shelton Civic Center. 

q       The next Technical Committee meeting will be on Wednesday, October 13th from 10-12 at the Shelton Civic Center.