Alternate artesian well sites floated

LOCATION: A survey finds 43 percent want a new well at the port; 28 percent back the Fourth Avenue well.

By John Dodge, The Olympian

OLYMPIA — Port of Olympia property near the Farmers Market is emerging as a preferred site for a new artesian well in downtown Olympia.

An ad-hoc committee of citizens, city leaders and state officials has been working for a year to either replace the substandard artesian well in the Diamond Parking lot on Fourth Avenue or drill a new well at a different site.

The state Department of Ecology has given the group until January 2000 to make a decision.

The existing well is not built to state standards. It flows freely year-round in violation of state law and is an unwelcome public attraction to the property owner - Tacoma-based Diamond Parking.

At the same time, the well is an incredibly popular watering hole with thousands of South Sound residents who swear by the water's purity and taste.

More than 20 people visited the well to fill up water jugs and quench their thirst during the noon hour Friday.

"I've been coming to this well for 24 years," said west side resident James Hunter, who filled several water bottles, then wheeled them down the street in a luggage container.

Friends of Artesians, a non­profit group dedicated to keeping an artesian well open to the public in Olympia, recently surveyed its members on their preferences for an artesian well location.

Of the 115 people responding, 43 percent said they want a new well on Port of Olympia property near the Farmers Market. An additional 28 percent favor the existing well. Some 20 percent like the idea of a new well at the state Heritage Park at Capitol Lake, while 8 percent prefer the Intercity Transit center in downtown Olympia.

The committee is looking at all four sites and should be making a decision on which one or ones to pursue within the next month, Friends of Artesians spokesman James W. Ingersoll said.

"We're real excited about working with the port," Ingersoll added.

Port Executive Director Nick Handy said the port is open to discussions but has not explored all the legal issues surrounding construction of a public well on port property.

"The Farmers Market is an excellent site, and it does make sense," he added.

Some of the folks stopping by the Diamond Parking lot well Friday were hesitant to see the well moved.

"It's fine right here," Kay Fassler of Kamilche said. She urged the city of Olympia to work on a parking lot swap with Diamond Parking to allow the well to stay where it is.

"This site is great," agreed Wayne Lee of Lacey. "The Farmers Market area can be hard to get in and out of with a car."

Access by car and clean, free-flowing artesian water were the most important features of any well, according to the survey respondents.

John Dodge covers the environment for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5444.