Granite Falls turns tap back on

Published 9:31 pm Tuesday, July 28, 2009

GRANITE FALLS — The Kloes family has its water back.

The seven-member household started a week of record-breaking weather by having its water shut off by the city.

After a trip to City Hall, however, officials relented. The family could again take showers, wash dishes and, mostly importantly, quench their thirst.

“The first thing I did was get a drink of water,” said Bill Kloes, 40, after the water returned in the afternoon.

The reprieve came on a day when temperatures just outside Granite Falls reached 101 degrees, the hottest spot in Snohomish County.

Mayor Lyle Romack said cutting off service is a financial necessity. The city supplies water to about 1,200 customers, and has bills of its own to pay to the Snohomish County PUD, the source of the water.

“We’re trying to work with the individuals in the city due to the economic climate,” Romack said. “I feel terrible for those who can’t pay their bills.”

At least two other large water districts in the county have suspended any shutoffs during the hot weather.

Everett, which supplies 26,000 direct customers, typically suspends service to about 10 to 20 customers every week for past due accounts, city spokeswoman Kate Reardon said. That won’t happen as long as the searing heat sticks around.

“(We) will resume when it cools off, probably next Monday,” Reardon said.

Alderwood Water and Wasetwater, which serves 40,000 customers in the Lynnwood area, also will wait until after the heat wave to suspend service to customers who aren’t paying their bills, said Ken Goodwin, the district’s finance director.

The utility isn’t seeing many more people have service cut off this year. They are seeing more customers paying with credit cards, suggesting they don’t have the money on hand.

The utility saw 15,000 credit card transactions last year, but is on pace to have about 18,000 this year, he said.

The water ordeal started for the Kloes family earlier this month after the family received a notice demanding they pay $600 in back payments. Their bills tend to run about $200 every other month, they said. The couple lives in a newer subdivision with Bill Kloes’ 78-year-old mother and four daughters, ages 4 to 13.

The noticed was postmarked July 10 and told them they had until July 22 to pay.

It was impossible for the family to cough up the money to prevent having their water shut off because Bill Kloes lost his job with a beer distributor in May and Heather Kloes lost her pet-store job back in December.

A neighbor offered to hook up his hose to give them water. But City Hall relented on Tuesday when the family visited in person.

“I basically gave them a post-dated check,” Bill Kloes said. “They said they were going to come out within a half an hour.”

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.