Pateros awarded Ecology grant for stormwater plan

PATEROS – The City does not have a stormwater plan, but that may soon change thanks to a $103,199 grant from the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to pay for drafting one.

City Administrator Jord Wilson announced the award at the regular monthly city council meeting on May 20. The council, in turn, voted to accept the 40-page agreement outlining the scope of the project,

The city’s existing stormwater system is about 60 years old and was installed between 1960 and 1965 when the city relocated to higher ground to make way for the elevation of the Wells Dam pool. No major upgrades have been made since then, and DOE considers the system past its estimated useful life. Untreated system discharges enter the Methow and Columbia rivers, both of which are on the impaired waters list for temperature.

The four potential sources of stormwater are:

1. Streets in the lower residential neighborhoods with storm drains.
2. Highway, commercial streets, and parking lots in the downtown commercial district.
3. Streets and parking lots in the industrial district.
4. Runoff from surrounding orchards and slopes.

“We have 13 or 15 outflows into the Columbia River,” said Wilson. “My personal goal would be to reduce those as much as possible - maybe not on my watch – but in the future because I guarantee you Ecology is going to want that.”

The city will use the plan as a resource to plan, fund, and construct future stormwater improvements. DOE has outlined a series of steps to complete the plan.

• Conduct a stormwater facilities and connections inventory including a conditions assessment.
• Collect system and mapping data using field reconnaissance and perform hydrologic modeling to determine peak and volume stormwater flows.
• Evaluate water quality treatment best management practices (BMPs) and conveyance alternatives.
• Examine the conditions of each known outflow to determine structural integrity and capacity.
• Assess how water-quality BMPs may be incorporated into or replace each outflow.

The city’s funding match for the grant is $5,432.53.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media