Eastsound Sewer & Water District

Welcome to the District!

The Mission of the Eastsound Sewer & Water District is to provide sewer service to all properties within the District’s Sewer Service areas for the protection of public health, groundwater, and the environment, and to meet and exceed the public needs and regulatory requirements.

Eastsound Sewer & Water District (ESWD) provides sewer service within the Eastsound Urban Growth Area boundaries and the Hamlet of Orcas Village in San Juan County, Washington. The District is also the holder of the senior water rights for the underlying aquifer in Eastsound, which is a major source of drinking water for the community. As a local municipality, the ESWD operates under the authority of Title 57 of the Revised Code of Washington. ESWD is subject to Federal, State and Local regulations.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the District is to protect public health, the groundwater, and the environment from becoming polluted by septic waste. With this in mind, the District has set policy that requires all properties located in the Eastsound Urban Growth Area (UGA) boundaries to connect to the sewer system when a sewer main line abuts or is reasonably accessible as determined by the District.

The protection of the Eastsound Aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for the community, is a primary concern to the District so the Board commissioned a “Septic System Discharge Assessment” report to be conducted by Chazen Environmental Services, Inc. The “Chazen Report” was released on May 2, 2010, and provides an assessment of the risks that septic system wastewaters pose to groundwater quality reaching domestic or public wells in Eastsound under present or future growth scenarios.

Goals

The primary goal of the District is to provide reliable, excellent and affordable sewer service to the Eastsound and Orcas Village communities, which includes the orderly expansion of sewer main lines in order to provide sewer service to all parcels of land in those areas. To plan sufficiently to meet the growing needs of the community which includes the current expansion and upgrade of our wastewater treatment facility.  This generational project includes an aerobic digester, biosolids dewatering equipment, biological process train and clarifier, and UV disinfection equipment.  With this upgrade we will be able to remove additional oxygen depleting nutrients from our effluent stream, helping protect our natural environment.