Downtown Olympia brimming with wells

Rich history: Most of the dozens of wells that have been built downtown have been capped or paved over.

By John Dodge, The Olympian

The popular artesian well in a Fourth Avenue parking lot is not the only one with a colorful past and interesting future in downtown Olympia.

The first documented artesian well developed downtown was at Talcott Jewelers in 1895, according to Nadine Romero, a state hydrogeologist who is writing a book entitled "Springs of Olympia."

The family-owned business developed the well in protest of the rising costs of city water, she said.

In the next few decades, about 90 more artesian wells were constructed in downtown Olympia as property owners and businesses took advantage of groundwater that is under enough pressure to push free-flowing water to the surface from depths of some 100 feet.

In a recent survey, Thurston County health officials could only find about 15 of the wells. The rest had been capped, paved over or buried under changing land uses.

One of the most famous of the wells is at the Diamond Parking lot on Fourth Avenue. Residents from all over the county stop by at all hours of the day to fill bottles and jugs with water that is free of chlorine.

Another well-known artesian well is in the basement of the Spar Cafe and Bar. It served as the restaurant's source of water for 60 years, restaurant owner Al McWain said.

Last August, the well was taken out of commission, pending water system improvements required by the state Department of Health.

In the weeks ahead, McWain hopes to revive the water supply, if a camera probe of the 104-foot deep well can show that the well casing is in sound shape.

"A lot of our customers miss it," McWain said. "It's a valued commodity."

The artesian well also saves his business $6,000-plus on its city water bill, McWain said.

King Solomon's Reef is at other restaurant that uses its own artesian well. It, too, is waiting State approval of its well.

At Talcott Jewelers, the artesian supply is confined to a water fountain used only by employees family jeweler Richard Talcott said.

The source of the groundwater tapped by so many Olympia businesses is rainfall that percolates into the ground.

Simply put, the groundwater is on a journey to Budd Inlet from recharge areas south of town, Romero noted.

Much of the water migrates to Puget Sound on its own. However, many of the old artesian wells seep into pipes that empty into the Olympia sewer system.

A 1993 study by the LOTT regional sewer system estimated that more than 500,000 gallons of freshwater enters the downtown sewage treatment plant each day from the long-forgotten wells.

That represents about 5 percent of the plant's wastewater flow in the summer. It is less than 1 percent on stormy winter days when the combined storm and sewer pipes in downtown Olympia are inundated with stormwater.