Skillings, the City of Roy’s engineering firm, is making the necessary steps to address Roy’s contaminated well water, and a timeline for the project is becoming clearer.
During the Roy City Council’s Monday, Sept. 9, meeting, John Hnatishin, Skillings utility manager, updated the council on their conversations with the Washington state Department of Health and the Department of Ecology for its mitigation strategy to address the per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in one of the city’s wells.
Skillings and the city have teamed up to initiate a water rate study this month, and Hnatishin told the council that the firm is working at a “feverish” pace to get their $242,000 grant for the water infrastructure project into a reimbursable status. He said the firm issued the grant scope amendment Monday and that it is in the hands of the Washington state Department of Commerce for approval.
“We have been coordinating with the Department of Health and Ecology and working through our mitigation strategy for PFAS and what that looks like. Well 1 is contaminated with PFAS, and our mitigation strategy is to move away from that groundwater and move to water that we know the quality and we know the quantity and we own the property,” he said. “Ecology and Health gave us some guidance on the pre-application meeting for a water rights change application, so that application is a process in which we take the water from Well 1 and move it to a new site.”
Hnatishin said that the firm will meet with the DOE on Sept. 19 about the water rights pre-application process. Both the DOE and DOH have expressed to the city that they are confident in the direction and the approach that the city and Skillings are taking in addressing the contamination, Hnatishin said.
Additionally, Skillings met with the funding manager for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), which makes funds available to make infrastructure improvements for drinking water systems. Hnatishin said the DWSRF has a specific pool of money outlined for PFAS contamination that can be loaned, and he added that the pool of money that the City of Roy qualifies for is up to 100% principal forgiveness.
“The key word there is ‘up to.’ We don’t know how or what percentage of that 100% you may qualify for. It has a lot to do with other applications and how that money shakes out across the state, but it is a possibility,” Hnatishin said.
Well 2, the deeper of the city’s two wells, is contaminated with iron and manganese, which Skillings is also working to address. Hnatishin said the firm is working on a project report for an iron and manganese treatment plant at the site. Once the project report is completed, it will be submitted to the DOH for feedback or approval, and then the firm can use the $300,000 in grant funds to move into the design phase for a new well, new plumbing and a treatment plant.
The DWSRF loan, if Roy receives it, would be able to cover 100% of the construction costs for the water infrastructure upgrades. DWSRF accepts applications through December of 2024, and, if approved, the city would be notified of possible award by February of 2025 to be disbursed in late spring or early summer. Hnatishin said there is a 1% loan origination fee and a 2% standard interest rate for a 20-year standard loan term.
“I would keep in mind that not only is this one of the most expeditious ways to have this facility constructed, but also the potential for principal loan forgiveness is here as well,” Hnatishin said.
If the city doesn’t qualify for 100% forgiveness of the DWSRF loan, it would need to apply for grants or other federal funding to help pay it off, Mayor Kimber Ivy said.
“I know that Skillings and our administrative team and myself have looked really hard at finding some of the grant options. This is the quickest way for us to get clean water to our constituents, and with the fact that there is a chance for up to 100% principal forgiveness, that’s huge,” Ivy said.
Hnatishin also said that a new reservoir would be in the future plans for Roy since the site where the new well would be located is “quite large.”
Councilor Edmund Dunn said Roy cannot wait any longer to consider its options, and it must apply for the DWSRF loan to provide residents with clean drinking water as soon as possible.
“I don’t think we can hold off on this. Drinking water is important. It comes up in every meeting, and we hear it from citizens. I’m not sure that we can afford to wait,” Dunn said. “I would like more information on forgiveness and how that works and the criteria, but you’re saying this is looking very good for us to get that money.”
Skillings is also working on establishing a crosswalk and a flashing beacon across state Route 507. Hnatishin said the firm has completed a conceptual outline and has received verbal confirmation from the Washington state Department of Transportation review team that feedback on the firm’s planning documents would be provided by the end of this week. With that completed, the firm will move closer to completing final construction documents.
“This project, at its core, is a rapid flashing beacons project, so rapid flashing signs at 507 and crossing to Huggins Greig Road. That would be for students at the elementary to come across the street, so they’ll have a push button there,” Hnatishin said. “The outline currently [goes] from Fourth Street across 507 into Huggins Greig with a path that continues across the rodeo entrance and then up to Warren Street, so everyone that walks along that path has a place to go because right now there’s no place to go.”
Hnatishin said the design phase could be done this fall and the best construction window would be early spring of 2025.
