The cities of Auburn, Bonney Lake, Buckley and Sumner on Friday Feb. 5 signed an historic agreement with the Cascade Water Alliance to ensure that they all have water to help them meet their water needs over the next 50 years.

The agreement, years in the making, is the result of regional collaboration following Cascade’s purchase of Lake Tapps from Puget Sound Energy (PSE) for future municipal water supply. Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis, Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson, Buckley Mayor Pat Johnson and Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow signed for their cities, and Cascade Water Alliance CEO Chuck Clarke signed for Cascade.

“This has been a collective effort by the four small cities working together to bring security to the lake for future generations and for all of our water supplies. It’s been a long time coming, and good work by everybody involved,” Lewis said.

“It’s one of the very few deals I have ever seen where everybody walks out a winner,” said Enslow. “Sumner gets the water it needs for the future. There’s nothing more important in my mind for Sumner than enough water. Our water supply is very close to its capacity.”

The signing took place at a meeting of the Lake Tapps Task Force on the grounds of the old Puget Sound Energy powerhouse on East Valley Highway, and more than 100 leaders showed up to see it happen, including Congressman Dave Reichert (8th District), Congressman Jay Inslee (1st District), King County Executive Dow Constantine, Pierce County Councilmember Shawn Bunney, State Senator Pam Roach (31st District), and State Representatives Chris Hurst (31st District).

Cascade Water Alliance is a nonprofit corporation comprised of five east and south King County cities, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, and Tukwila and three municipal districts, the Covington Water District, the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District and the Skyway Water and Sewer District.

Formed in 1999, Cascade purchased Lake Tapps from PSE after it ceased using the lake and White River for hydroelectric power. Cascade will eventually use it for water supply for its members.

Under the landmark agreement, Cascade will leave water in the White River that will be available for the four cities to use when they apply for a water right from the State Department of Ecology. If their water rights are approved, the cities are assured water will be available if and when needed by any of them. In addition, the cities will work with Cascade to portion some of its existing water supply now provided by Tacoma Public Utilities.

“Our ratepayers are really going to benefit in 10 to 15 years when we are not paying $8 million for water, we’re paying $2 million,” said Neil Johnson.

“We can’t plan our growth if we don’t know how much water we’re going to have, because without water you can’t grow,” said Pat Johnson.

In addition, Cascade will create a Lake Tapps Municipal Advisory group, consisting of the mayors of the four cities and Cascade members to share issues regarding the management of Lake Tapps.

Cascade also has agreements with the Lake Tapps Homeowners’ Association regarding protection of lake levels and with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians ensuring in stream flows in the White River to protect fish. Cascade is completing its 2010 Transmission and Supply Planning, and incorporates these agreements, as well as the recently adopted Four Cities Agreement into the water right application it recently submitted to the Washington State Department of Ecology.

“No one can be certain what will happen in the future,” said Chuck Clarke, Cascade CEO. “But what we do know is that we all need to plan today to ensure water tomorrow. These agreements, and this regional cooperation, means everyone benefits, and we can work together to protect our water resources.

“Now that we have the lake, now that the agreements are in place it’s just a city-by-city discussion of what their water needs are and us working with them to accommodate them,” Clark added.

The complete agreement can be found at www.cascadewater.org.