Sequim public works director says city has sufficient water for roughly 30 years; outlines long‑range plans

Paul Busich, Sequim’s public works director, told the City Council that the city’s groundwater supply and existing system should meet expected development and population growth for roughly the next 30 years while staff pursues a coordinated long‑range water strategy.

"We have sufficient water resources to handle development for the next 30 plus years," Busich said, summing up the presentation. He and staff reviewed system assets — three well sites (Silverhorn Well Field, Port Williams Well Field and the Rainy Collector Well), four booster stations, nine pressure‑reducing valve stations, three reservoirs totaling about 3,000,000 gallons, roughly 77 miles of mains, more than 2,000 valves and over 600 hydrants — and the city’s metering and monitoring program.

Busich told the council that the city’s certificated water rights total about 1,850 acre‑feet per year after a closer review with the State Department of Ecology and that the 2022 Water System Plan had previously overstated available certificated rights. "The 2022 system plan had identified a number of water rights that, after looking in them in greater detail…