03/27/2008: "Courthouse Without Water for Week, Or More"

Public Works Director Jon Shannon blames the cause for a leak under courthouse on a “bad design and there was no redundancy built in,” so with the loss of pressure due to a small leak, there is no water for the court house.

Shannon also said that perhaps Sunday’s magnitude 2.7 earthquake near Anacortes may have been enough to cause the Courthouse to settle enough to crack a soldered joint in a copper water pipe.

The leak is in a 2 inch pipe laid on a bed of coarse gravel beneath a six-inch thick, steel-reinforced concrete slab under the Sheriff’s office.

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The lack of access has forced county maintenance crews to shut off water to the entire Courthouse building Building and Grounds Manager Bud Sears reports that water has been routed into the Sheriff’s office and jail, using hoses drawing on the water line used for watering the lawn, but there is not enough pressure available to serve the rest of the building.

Public water drinking fountains and restrooms at the Courthouse remain closed, while the portable toilets placed outside the courthouse remain open for "business." The building’s fire suppression system is fed by another water main and has not been affected.

County Clerk Joan White has expressed concern about the needs of jury pools called for trials in coming weeks. Fifty or more potential jurors at a time must be segregated from the general population during the jury selection process.

Public Works director Shannon said that if no other options are available, maintenance workers may turn the water back on during periods of peak demand. “The leak is currently only four gallons per minute and for short periods of time that is manageable,” he said.

County engineers believe the best permanent solution is to re-route the water main through the ceiling of the Sheriff’s office and then on down to the main distribution system in the basement of the courthouse. There is no estimate of when the repairs will be completed, but Sears says that it will take several work days after the County is able to retain a contractor who has the manpower to devote to the job. One mainland contractor was on-site today to survey the problem.