Public hearing set for input on Pebble Lake options

By Susan Larson | The Daily Journal

Published Friday, July 13, 2007

Water quantity, not quality, continues to be the issue at Pebble Lake. But at $200,000 a year for a temporary pumping system, some officials wonder if it would make more sense to build a permanent system.

A public hearing is set for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 6, during the regular city council meeting to discuss the possibility of a permanent system. Property owners along the shoreline were assessed 30 percent of last year’s temporary pumping project and the city 70 percent for the temporary system. The same formula is being used to determine costs for a permanent facility, City Engineer Dan Edwards said

Pebble Lake was pumped from Aug. 8 to Nov. 9, 2006, for $205,000 ($175,000 to pump; $30,000 for engineering costs). A permanent pumping station would cost about $795,000.

“We could do a temporary thing every year,” Edwards said, “but at $200,000 a year, in four years we will have spent more than it would cost for a permanent system.”

The last time Pebble Lake was at ordinary high level or lower was 1995, according to Edwards. Ordinary high water level is 1196.7 feet above sea level, as established by the Department of Natural Resources. Pebble was at 1199.9 elevation last August. It was lowered 3.2 feet, but raised to the equivalent of 4.4 feet because 1.2 feet of rain fell from August to November. Pebble Lake sits at 1199.2 elevation.

“Even if this wet cycle ends,” Edwards said, “it would take three to four years minimum to get to an ordinary level.”