The Daily Herald

Published: Monday, June 28, 2004

Snohomish County temporarily shuts down a gravel pit near Gold Bar that residents say is ruining their water supply.

By Lukas Velush
Herald Writer

GOLD BAR - Dozens of residents who say their wells are running dry are rejoicing that a gravel pit they blame for the problem has been temporarily closed.

The owner of the pit says he feels attacked for mining material to make the concrete those same residents use when they drive on streets, walk on sidewalks or build their homes.

Saying that he stands to lose more than $100,000, pit owner Eldon Nysether said opposition to the gravel mine he bought last fall has grown so strong that he may close the mine for good.

"I will be 79 years of age in about two months," he said, adding that he might be willing to work through the permitting process if he were 40. "I didn't realize how difficult the permitting is - I guess I'm a little bit in the past. I don't need this grief."

Snohomish County, three state agencies and at least one federal agency are investigating his operation.

Their interest was piqued by the fate of more than 200 families who use wells drilled into an aquifer that may be linked to the pit. Many residents say the aquifer has been steadily dropping since pit operators punched a hole in it.

Snohomish County closed the mining operation last week after determining that Nysether's Seamount Resources Inc. of Everett had illegally tapped into an underwater reserve.

The mine has also been cited for violating several other county and state rules, including doubling the number of trucks allowed to leave the property each day from 20 to 40, and never obtaining a permit from the state Department of Natural Resources.

The mine won't be allowed open again until it completes a study to determine whether the water draining out of the pit is affecting surrounding wells, said Susan Scanlan, the county's project manager on the case.

Still, the county isn't sure where the water - flowing out of the pit at about 1,100 gallons per minute - is coming from.

If it's seeping in from nearby hillsides, the neighbor's wells aren't likely to be affected, Scanlan said.

If the aquifer has been tapped, as the residents claim, then the county may be unwilling to allow the mine to reopen.

"According to their conditional use permit, they were not to excavate below the level of the aquifer," she said.

Peter Gienger, who lives about a hundred yards from the gravel pit, says there's no question that the pit operators punched a hole in the aquifer. He likens the stream of water rushing out of the pit to pulling the plug in a bathtub.

"It's not a matter if we're going to run out of water, it's a matter of when we're going to run out of water," he said.

Gienger's well is one of several that dried up in summer 2003, when more than 10 wells in the neighborhood near the gravel pit started to have problems.

Like many, Gienger's well bounced back once the fall rains came. However, several landowners had to dig deeper wells, at a cost of thousands of dollars.

Using state Department of Ecology data, Gienger has mapped the location of the nearly 50 wells in the neighborhood. Using that as a springboard, he and his neighbors have been asking folks who live in the area about their wells.

What he has found so far has startled him.

"It's like connect the dots," he said. "It's pretty much a straight line to the gravel pit. It was kind of shocking when I first started plotting them."

Last summer, two nearby wells had to be replaced, seven dried up but came back with the fall rains, and two were significantly lower but still had water. Only four showed no change.

The Ecology Department is working with Gienger and others to collect data on the wells to start piecing together whether the pit is draining the wells, said Greg Stegman, a compliance investigator with the agency.

"We're gathering as much information as we can," he said, adding that the county and the Department of Natural Resources will have to decide how to use the information.

Stegman said the Ecology Department would help truck water into the area if residents run out.

The water flowing out of the pit goes straight into a nearby wetland, which state wildlife officials said may not be a problem if, as it appears, the water is clean. Endangered salmon and other wildlife use the wetlands.

If Seamount Resources can show that it is not affecting the aquifer, it still has a long list of changes it must make before digging starts again, said the county's Scanlan.

She said the company sought to make those changes by updating its conditional use permit, which hasn't been changed since 1983. It's up to pit owner Nysether to decide if that permit update process is to continue.

About a year ago, the county and state started investigating the pit after neighbor Becky Cogger began asking questions about possible permit violations.

"This is not something we're going to sit by and idly watch our wells run dry," she said.

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

Violations

Violations lodged against Seamount Resources Inc. of Everett by Snohomish County and the state Department of Natural Resources include:

* Tapping into a yet-to-be-determined source of groundwater, be it the local aquifer or local seeps and springs.

* Hauling up to 40 loads of gravel out of the pit each day when permitted for only 20.

* Discharging water out of the pit into nearby wetlands. The company's permit does not allow for water releases off the property. Water is draining out from a pipe tunneled into the side of the pit.

* Digging gravel from a piece of property not covered in the permit.

* Failing to apply for a permit with the Department of Natural Resources.

Sources: Snohomish County and the state Department of Natural Resources