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Tenino council adopts water system plan update and 10% water‑use reduction goal
Summary
Council approved the city’s updated water system plan and separately adopted state‑required water‑use efficiency goals directing a 10% reduction in average‑day demand over 10 years; staff said measures include continued leak repair, meter upgrades, automatic leak alerts and evaluation of reclaimed water reuse.
The Tenino City Council voted Nov. 11 to approve an updated water system plan and to adopt water‑use efficiency goals that aim to reduce average‑day demand by 10% over the next 10 years.
During a work session and the required public hearings, an invited presenter, Mike Marshall, told the council the plan has been “a long road getting here, but we’re we’re almost there,” and stressed the need to finish the update this year so state health officials will not require the city to redo the plan using 2024–25 water‑use data. He listed measures recommended to meet the goal, including continued leak detection and repair, replacement of meters to improve accuracy, automatic meter‑reading alerts to warn customers of leaks, and evaluating use of existing reclaimed water (about 100,000 gallons per day at the plant) to offset potable use.
Clerk/finance staff explained the state requires a separate public hearing on water‑use efficiency targets when a system exceeds 10% water loss. Council discussion noted Tenino had previously lost roughly 40% at an earlier peak but is down to roughly 10% now because of repair work, which is why adopting a plan and concrete measures matters to maintain the reduction.
Council members moved and seconded the motions at the Nov. 11 regular meeting; both the water system plan update and the water‑use efficiency goals passed by voice votes after no members of the public addressed those items during the hearings. The council directed staff to update administrative details on the plan’s cover page to reflect current elected officials and to submit the locally approved draft to the state Department of Health for final review.
What’s next: The council adopted the local pieces required for state compliance and will send the revised draft to state health for approval; if the state requests changes, the city will address them before finalization.
