SEATTLE – The city’s water utility is projecting it will have enough water to serve Seattle and its suburban customers through 2060 without needing any new reservoirs or water sources.
Using new computer modeling software, Seattle Public Utilities said that even in the worst-case scenario, the region’s need for water is not expected to exceed available supply before 2052.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be drought years. But the Cedar and Tolt river drainages are able to provide an about 171 million gallons of water a day, said David Hilmoe, the utility’s drinking water manager, and the most likely scenario is that there will be plenty of water for Seattle and its suburban customers in the years to come.
Seattle Public Utilities also serves Bellevue, Bothell, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Redmond, Tukwila and a number of smaller water districts in the region.
Associated Press
Appeals court upholds Premera case decision
The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a decision by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler that barred Premera Blue Cross from converting to a publicly traded, for-profit corporation.
Premera, which serves 1.3 million members in Washington, has been seeking for-profit status since 2002. Kreidler denied the request in July 2004, and the company appealed, saying he misapplied the law and had no grounds for denial.
Kreidler welcomed the decision and said he expects Premera to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Premera has spent $34 million on its conversion proposal – more than half of which paid for the state’s analysis as required by law. Kreidler compared it to “a high-stakes poker game, where you’ve got so much money on the table you can’t afford to walk away.”
Associated Press
Issaquah: Man killed while trying to catch dog
A man was fatally struck by a Greyhound bus on I-90 Sunday night, apparently while trying to get his dog out of the westbound lanes of the freeway, investigators said.
Edward Samuel Monkley, 61, of Fall City stopped his 1998 Volkswagen Beetle in the right-hand lane about 11 p.m. Sunday and the bus, bound for Seattle from Spokane, struck him after moving to the middle lane to avoid the car, Washington State Patrol Lt. Jeffrey Sass said.
None of the 15 passengers on the bus was injured, but some were shaken by the accident, investigators said. It was unclear how the dog got loose or what happened to it, Sass said.
Associated Press
Spokane: Cheney to stump for McGavick
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick is getting some more high-powered help in his campaign against Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.
Vice President Dick Cheney will join McGavick for a fundraiser in Spokane April 17, the vice president’s office confirmed Tuesday.
McGavick’s campaign spokeswoman, Julie Sund, said she couldn’t comment on specifics of the vice president’s schedule, which includes a $500-a-person reception at the Davenport Hotel.
New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton has campaigned in the state for Cantwell.
Associated Press
Richland: Hanford costs jump $1 billion
The estimated cost to build a waste treatment plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation has grown by almost another $1 billion, according to the latest review by a team of experts.
The new cost estimate is $11.3 billion, up from $10.5 billion and nearly double the $5.8 billion estimated at the start of 2005.
The review, presented to Congress on Monday, was prepared by a team of 16 independent experts hired to assess the credibility of the cost and schedule estimates prepared by Bechtel National, the company hired to build the plant for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Associated Press
Lakewood: Human remains found by kids
Two children found human remains Tuesday while they were playing in a vacant lot near a school.
It was too soon to say whether the skull and portion of a spinal column are from an adult or a child, Lakewood police detective Michael Zaro said.
Ten-year-old boys found the remains in blackberry bushes while searching for snakes, Zaro said. Investigators later found additional pieces of bone.
The site is near Woodbrook Middle School and about two miles from the home of Adre’anna Jackson, a 10-year-old girl who vanished Dec. 2 while walking to school.
Zaro said police were keeping that case in mind but had made no connections.
Associated Press
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