Grange celebrates end of water system mortgage

In honor of the burning of the first mortgage of the Western Wahkiakum Water System, the Grays River Grange Hall will host an open house March 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Grange members Bob Larson and Esther Gregg offered this recap of the history of the development of the system.

The discussion for a residential water system began in 1972 when it became apparent that wells and springs were not enough, they said. Public meetings began to determine public interest in a project.

Westend residents Larson and Norman Anderson, with assistance from Marie McGowan and Carol Larson collected signatures of interested citizens.

In 1975, Bill Dietrich was hired as the primary engineer as the plan began to piece together. It eventually became apparent that bonding would need to be secured for financing of the project, so Wahkiakum PUD became the owner and operator. The WWWS was born when water began to flow in 1977.

Thirty years later, the original bond has been paid off;, however, because of flooding in 1999, there is still bonding being paid off with user fees.