Quality of Issaquah drinking water exceeds standards
June 22, 2010
NEW — 6 a.m. June 22, 2010
Issaquah tap water exceeds water-quality standards set by state and federal regulators.
Officials announced the findings in the annual water-quality report issued Wednesday, and mailed the report to residents in early June. Read the complete report here.
The city purchased and produced 751.1 million gallons of drinking water last year. Issaquah customers used 693.4 million gallons of water during the same period.
City customers use water drawn from the Lower Issaquah Valley Aquifer. The city has four wells to the underground water source — a pair in the northeastern part of the city and another pair in the northwestern part. The wells vary from 100 to 400 feet deep.
Cascade Water Alliance receives eco honor
May 11, 2010
Environmentalists honored Cascade Water Alliance, Puget Sound Energy and local government agencies last week for efforts to preserve a rail corridor through the Eastside.
Cascade Land Conservancy honored the water alliance as a 2010 Cascade Agenda Leadership Award winner. The group shares the award with Redmond, King County, Sound Transit, the Port of Seattle, Puget Sound Energy, and Sound Transit.
Issaquah City Council President John Traeger serves as a member of the water alliance board of directors.
The award celebrates the role of community leaders in linking great communities, a healthy environment and a strong economy. Cascade Land Conservancy recognized the recipients for their effort to purchase the former BNSF Railway corridor for future public use. The line stretches from Snohomish to Renton.
“This was an easy decision for us,” Cascade Land Conservancy CEO Chuck Clarke said in a news release. “It just made sense for us to join with the other public agencies interested in future use of the corridor. Each of us had a good reason to invest our public funds in the corridor, and in the end, the public wins too by keeping the corridor intact.”
Cascade Land Conservancy — the largest land conservation and stewardship organization in the state — announced the award at a May 6 breakfast.
Besides Issaquah, the nonprofit water alliance includes Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Tukwila, the Sammamish Plateau and Skyway water and sewer districts, and the Covington Water District.
City Council sets parks, transportation among 2011 goals
May 4, 2010
City Council members outlined goals for parks, technology, economic development and transportation to be accomplished next year. The council eschewed broad policy goals and recommended specific projects.
Members culled 62 suggestions into a handful of rough goals. Municipal staffers will then hone the list into a final stack of goals for the council to approve next month.
The council gathered in a Public Works Operations Building conference room May 1 for the daylong discussion to set goals for 2011.
Council President John Traeger encouraged members to offer multiple suggestions.
“There are no bad ideas, and no goal is too big or too small,” he said.
The retreat included initial discussion about the upcoming budget. City department chiefs use the goals set by the council to formulate budgets for the upcoming year.
Stop toilet leaks
March 23, 2010
To keep a vital natural resource from going down the drain, conservation officials mailed leak-detection kits last week to every single-family residence in Issaquah. Read more
Watch the mailbox for a free leak-detection kit
March 16, 2010
NEW — 12:25 p.m. March 16, 2010
To keep a vital natural resource from going down the drain, conservation officials have mailed leak-detection kits to every single-family residence in Issaquah.
The city Resource Conservation Office and Cascade Water Alliance sent the kits — a dye strip to be used to determine whether toilets leak water. A leaky toilet can waste thousands of gallons of water each year.
“Every home has toilets and eventually they all leak,” Mike Brent, water resources manager for the water alliance, said during a City Council meeting Monday.
Brent joined city Resource Conservation Office Manager David Fujimoto and a water conservation mascot — a blue, anthropomorphic water droplet named Wayne Drop — at the meeting to discuss the importance of leak detection.
State auditors give thumbs up to Cascade Water Alliance
March 2, 2010
Auditors determined the Cascade Water Alliance complied with state law and safeguarded public assets, a state audit released Feb. 16 shows. Read more
Ron Little to leave utility district
February 16, 2010
Ron Little
When Ron Little retires, 29 years of history goes with him.
Little has been an employee of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District since July 1981. He precedes the district’s current name, the formation of Sammamish as a city and the installation of the Bellevue-Issaquah water pipeline, the main source of the plateau’s water supply.
He wasn’t always headed for a life of water and sewer utilities. When Little first graduated from the University of Illinois with an engineering degree, he migrated to Los Angeles, hoping to work on race cars. Read more
New City Council takes shape
January 12, 2010
As family members watched and cameras flashed, Tola Marts and Mark Mullet joined the City Council last week. Read more
New members join City Council; John Traeger elected council president
January 6, 2010
NEW — 11:35 a.m. Jan. 6, 2010
As family members watched and cameras flashed, Tola Marts and Mark Mullet joined the City Council on Monday.
The new councilmen took the oath of office before a packed council chamber, where the audience included families, political supporters, former Councilman David Kappler and County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, whose district includes Issaquah.
Deputy City Clerk Randy Reed administered oaths to the new councilmen, as well as incumbents Mayor Ava Frisinger and councilwomen Eileen Barber and Maureen McCarry. The terms end Dec. 31, 2013.
“This is a wonderful start to 2010,” Frisinger said.
Former Councilman David Kappler lauded for environmental record
January 5, 2010
Issaquah claimed about 8,000 residents when David Kappler launched a successful City Council campaign in 1991.
David Kappler
Then, before the seismic shifts brought on by widespread growth, residents talked about still-unrealized plans to build urban villages on Cougar Mountain and Grand Ridge. Costco still maintained corporate headquarters in Kirkland.
Kappler, a tireless advocate for trails and open space preservation, won every election since his ’91 victory. The former councilman, who shaped decisions for almost 20 years, led the push to conserve land and cast crucial votes to shape transportation and public safety in Issaquah and across the Eastside.
