SULTAN — The water will still boil in a kettle, wash the dishes and rinse a toothbrush.
In fact, Sultan residents might not even notice the changes in store for the city’s taps and tubs.
The city has joined forces with Snohomish County PUD to finish a $1.6 million water line that taps Sultan into Everett’s water supply.
For several years, Sultan has been piping its water in from Lake 16 in the Sultan River Basin. But with the city blossoming residentially, Lake 16 just won’t cut it anymore. Hence the need for tapping Everett’s water supply.
The city and the PUD shared the costs of the project, which included engineering and building the pipeline and a 240-foot access bridge across the Sultan River.
"What they realized in the last few years was that they were going to max out the water capacity. Their community was growing," PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.
He said in addition to Sultan having access to Everett’s water supply, the PUD will be able to tap into the water for 15,000 of its water customers in outlying areas.
"As parts of eastern Snohomish County grow, they have access to water from Everett to do that," he said. "Meanwhile, Sultan will be using it as well."
Sultan has its own filtration and water treatment plants, and will continue to use both, said Connie Dunn, the city’s public works director. But the cost of operating the treatment plant may make buying already-treated water from Everett the best approach in the future, she said.
"Right now, our lake is capable of 1.4 million gallons a day. That barely meets our needs in the dry summer months," she said.
Gradually, Sultan will start using a certain amount of Everett water each day. Eventually, it may move to using Everett water exclusively.
"When is hard to tell. It could be five years, it could be two years, depending on development that comes to city," Dunn said.
Meanwhile, the City Council will study the most cost-effective solution for providing water to the city — whether from Everett or otherwise.
"That’s when the determination will be made … when the city of Sultan cannot produce water cheaper than what we could buy it for," Dunn said.
After the first of the year, Sultan leaders also will look into getting an approved fluoride process for the town’s water supply. The water now does not contain fluoride, but Everett’s does.
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.
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