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History |
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The Anacortes water system was purchased from the Washington
Power, Light & Water Company on April 23, 1919, for the sum of
$135,000.00 (the system had previously been owned by Douglas Almond’s
Anacortes Water Company). The city constructed its first water treatment
plant on Whistle Lake Road in 1925. It consisted of four filters. An
additional two filters were added in 1927 to the Whistle Lake facility.
In 1932 the water department built a Skagit River intake and pumping
facility at Avon. This facility originally had 1 pump rated at 2200
gallons per minute (gpm) with a 250 hp motor, and another 1000 gpm pump
with a 150 hp motor, for a combined capacity of 4.6 million gallons per
day (mgd).
In 1943 the Naval Air Station Whidbey installed an additional 1000
gallons per minute pump with a 150 hp motor. This increased the Avon
station to approximately 6 mgd.
In 1950 the city system added four more filters to the Whistle Lake
plant, bringing the city’s capacity to 11 mgd.
To meet the added demand of the Tesoro and Shell oil refineries, the
city built two Ranney Collector Wells (lateral pipes located under the
Skagit River bed) placing them into service on July 15, 1955. The south
well contained three 28,000 gpm pumps with 400 hp motors, and the north
had two 2,800 gpm pumps with 400 hp motors. Problems with iron content
later developed with these wells and by the fall of 1957 the city was
constructing a plant to filter the water from the Ranney collector wells
outside of Mount Vernon. At the time, it was believed to be the largest
pressure filter plant in the world. On March 11, 1958, this new filter
plant was put into service.
To meet continued growth, a new state of the art filter plant was
completed and on line
officially in February of 1970. Due to age and condition of the Ranney
wells and the Avon station, they were abandoned in 1973. The Whistle
Lake plant was demolished sometime in 1977.
Today, the City of Anacortes owns and operates what has become a major
regional water supply system, serving around 55,000 residential,
commercial, and industrial customers. |
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Water Treatment
Plant |
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High Speed Pumps |
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Water Filters |
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Contact Us |
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14489 Riverbend Road
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Water Information Hotline: (360) 299-1973
(360) 428-1598
(360) 428-1574 – fax
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