Tacoma Water and Cascade Water Alliance have agreed to a water sales agreement that will allow Tacoma Water to sell water to the King County water utility group for the next 25 years and beyond.
Tacoma Water will sell up to 10 million gallons per day to Cascade until 2025, which will taper down to 4 million gallons per day by 2030. The water will come from Tacoma Waters Second Supply Project pipeline, which will go into service later this month.
This agreement matches Cascade Water Alliances need for a source of water in the near future with Tacoma Waters ability to meet this need, said Tacoma Water Superintendent John Kirner. At the same time, we will recoup a portion of our Second Supply Project costs.
We have extra water available for the next 20 to 25 years, which is the time period when Cascade needs water, he continued. Once Cascade develops other resources, such as Lake Tapps, Tacoma Water will have most of that water back to use for our own growing needs. In the meantime, the contract will provide more than $120 million to Tacoma Water that we can re-invest in maintaining and operating our water system.
Cascade Water Alliance will pay Tacoma Waters standard wholesale water rates.
Tacoma Water serves 90,000 customers in Tacoma, University Place and parts of Pierce and South King counties. The Cascade Water Alliance consists of eight cities and water districts in east and south King County that have joined together to provide water supply for their current and future needs.
