What Was The Emergency? We have been asked "What was the emergency?" and as stated in the request from the county it was excessive sedimentation in the culvert that posed a safety problem and a threat to private property. The problem is the culvert continues to fill with sediment and has local residents and the county concerned that at some point it could fail and possibly washout the road, the safety issue.
What Was Done? At the downstream end of the culvert an excavator dug out a large hole (we estimate it was about 12 feet wide, and went downstream about 15 feet and into the culvert about 7 feet, and went down about 6 feet) which would contain about 60 yards of sediment. We counted 10 truck loads, each containing about 6 yards, which also would equate to 60 yards of sediment removed.
Will It Help? The real question is will it help? It should help some in the short term, that is, until the next big storm. The problem is the continual need to dredge is a maintenance headache and not the ultimate solution (which is to correct the upstream surges that bring down the sediment).
Future Culvert Meeting? The Illahee Community Club (ICC) has asked for a meeting with county representatives to discuss the culvert situation and the public works has agreed, though they would also like to see if the golf course gifting will go through, as that is the logical place to stop the surges. We will ask the ICC and the county when such a meeting might take place.
Culvert Photos. We have same pictures of the excavation and the culvert before the clean-out and during the clean-out, and when the current 0.6 inches of rain, which has filled the stream and is putting brown silt laden water out into Puget Sound stops, we will take some photos and measurements, to see it the clean-out has begun to work.
Jim Aho
