Federal emergency dollars are being sought to repair a levee that protects from flood damage a pipeline that carries half of the county’s drinking water, officials say.

The pipeline has been underwater since the Election Day flood spurred the Snohomish River over its banks. The floodwaters damaged the levee.

Even if the levee is fixed, the water pipe still won’t be safe from future floods, said Tom Thetford, utilities director for the city of Everett.

The city plans to spend as much as $5 million to build a new levee that it hopes will keep the river from washing over its water line, Thetford said. Construction could start in mid-2008.

The flood-damaged levee also protects two Puget Sound Energy high-voltage electrical transmission lines that together can carry enough electricity for more than 300,000 homes.

“These are critical lines to the region,” said Dorothy Bracken, a spokeswoman for Puget Sound Energy.

Floodwaters damaged both the inside and the outside of the structure. Repairs could cost up to $250,000, according to county estimates.

The city’s water line is 51 inches in diameter. A portion of the pipeline that was supposed to be protected by the levee was inundated by the flood. It is currently half underwater.

“This particular line is not designed to be submerged,” Thetford said.

The water line appears to be safe, but standing water has prevented the city from accessing and maintaining the pipe, he said.

The city is considering spending up to $5 million on a new levee upstream from the water pipe. It would be built perpendicular to the existing levee, Thetford said.

Snohomish County submitted a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help paying for levee repairs, said John Engel, a supervisor in Snohomish County’s surface water management department.

“The immediate concern is that we get the dikes fortified,” he said.

Quick action is needed to prevent future damage to the levee, Engel said. He said another flood isn’t likely to take out water or power lines, but would make levee repairs more expensive.

Federal officials usually turn down requests for levee repair money, so the bill probably will be passed to Everett and Puget Sound Energy, the two government agencies that need a working levee, Engel said.

“At this point I don’t know if we’re going to get any money for it or not,” Engel said.

The damage to the levee is in patches along a 1.5-mile stretch. If all the compromised areas were laid end to end, they’d be about 800 feet, Engel said.

The river flowed over other levees during the flood, but there was little damage reported at those locations.

All the Snohomish River levees are designed to be about the same elevation, Engel said. The flooding river is supposed to flow over the levees evenly, sapping the strength of the river without causing damage.

That’s largely what happened during the Election Day flood, the first large-scale test of leveling the levees.

Intentionally having floodwaters flow over levees didn’t work for Everett because that exposed its water pipe to standing water, Thetford said.

There also was the damage.

“It was actually one of the few places where we had any substantial damage to levees,” Engel said.

Bracken of Puget Sound Energy said something needs to be done to protect the two power lines, but the utility is waiting for more feedback from the public before deciding what to do.

The utility has proposed moving one of the lines to higher ground, but nearby neighbors are opposed because they say it would destroy their view.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@ heraldnet.com.