Future of artesian well lies with city

By John Dodge | The Olympian • Published October 21, 2007

Anyone traversing State Avenue in downtown Olympia near the intersection of Adams Street in recent weeks would be hard-pressed to miss the artesian well flowing behind a chain-link fence on a freshly barren lot that belongs to the state Department of Transportation.

There it sits, a free-flowing well surrounded by Rhododendron bushes in what used to be the courtyard for a DOT data office between the Intercity Transit center and Acme Fuel Co. The building was razed this fall, but the well remains, triggering questions about an on-again, off-again effort to find a permanent home for a community artesian well in downtown Olympia.

Does this well hold promise for the community? Maybe. Maybe not.

The city of Olympia is likely to purchase the one-acre lot from the state agency for development of a parking garage, city manager Steve Hall said.

The sudden exposure of the well was not lost on Friends of Artesians, the nonprofit group whose members have been trying for 15 years to find a secure, permitted home for an artesian water park that would be a welcoming gathering place for the public.

"It's almost perfect," enthused James Ingersoll, a Friends of Artesians coordinator. "If the city owned it, the artesian park could be next to the parking lot. It would be very pedestrian-friendly."

"What do you think of the idea?" I asked Hall about two weeks ago.

At first he dismissed it, suggesting an artesian water park would be incompatible with a parking garage. Upon further review, he softened his position, realizing there are ways to make it work by extending the artesian well access out closer to the street.

The artesian well on the vacant lot may have more appeal than a proposed site on Port of Olympia property near Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters. The city and port have yet to sign an agreement that would allow a test well to be drilled there to see if it could produce potable water.

This despite the fact the Friends, city and Port officials received permission more than 18 months ago from state and county health officials to drill a test well.