The New Clark Well & Treatment Plant
Eastsound Water has been in active development of a well site and a treatment facility over the past 4 years. Located across from the medical center, and in front of OPAL’s Wild Rose Meadow development, this new site has the ability to fundamentally change our future access to water resources by doubling our total production capacity. Secondary benefits include creating opportunities to rehabilitate much-needed pieces of our own infrastructure and consolidate our operations to run more efficiently.
This email mini-series will explain both the historical context and well and technical detail of this new site. Our hope is that by the end of this series our members and customers will understand the significance of this project, learn about the technical and financial details, and get excited about the future ahead.
Designing for the Worst Day, Not the Best
When Eastsound Water returned to the Clark Well project in recent years, the goal was not simply to add another water source. The goal was to build a system that would still function when conditions are at their most difficult — during storms, power outages, ferry disruptions, or other emergencies that can interrupt normal operations on an island. The Clark Well facility was designed with that reality in mind.
A defining feature of the Clark Well project is its focus on emergency resilience. The facility is equipped with a permanently installed propane generator capable of supplying power to the well pump, treatment equipment, controls, and monitoring systems during grid outages. This ensures that water production and treatment can continue even during extended power interruptions.
Equally significant is the decision to make chlorine on site rather than rely on delivered chemicals (yes! You can actually make chlorine!). Chlorine generation machines use an electrochemical process to produce sodium hypochlorite from salt and water, eliminating dependence on ferry schedules and off-island chemical deliveries. The generator planned for the Clark Well can produce ample capacity for the system’s treatment needs while allowing excess disinfectant to be stored for weeks at a time.
The idea of producing chlorine locally did not emerge in isolation during the design of the Clark Well. It was the result of a lesson learned several years earlier. In June of 2021, Eastsound Water received an unexpected notice from the chemical supply chain. A major chlor-alkali manufacturing facility in Longview, Washington — one of the regional sources for chlorine products — declared a force majeure after a critical equipment failure disrupted production. The notice warned customers that chlorine and related products would be in limited supply for an unknown period of time. Everyone in the industry went into a buying panic and supply disappeared almost overnight. It was a scary moment that lasted for many weeks.
For many utilities, this would have been inconvenient. For a small island water system, it exposed something more serious – a structural vulnerability.
Chlorine is not optional. Without it, safe drinking water cannot be provided. Yet Eastsound relied entirely on shipments of bulk sodium hypochlorite delivered from off-island suppliers, transported across multiple legs of the regional supply chain before finally reaching Orcas Island.
At the time, Eastsound used roughly ten gallons per day of commercial 12.5% sodium hypochlorite across its treatment facilities. The chemical itself cost about $2.70 per gallon, and shipping to the island added another $1.70 per gallon. By the time the disinfectant reached the system, the total delivered cost was roughly $4.40 per gallon — translating to approximately $16,000 per year in chlorine purchases.
Rather than accept that risk and ongoing cost, Eastsound Water chose to change the system itself. In 2021 the Eastsound Water Board approved a plan to invest approximately $65,000 in an on-site hypochlorite generation system capable of producing disinfectant directly at the Blanchard treatment plant. From a financial perspective, the numbers were straightforward. With annual chlorine purchases running at roughly $16,000 per year, the capital investment paid for itself in about four years.
But the more important point comes after the payoff period. Once the equipment was paid off, Eastsound was no longer spending that $16,000 every year on delivered chlorine. Instead, the system now produces disinfectant using inexpensive salt and modest electrical power. In practical terms, that means the utility effectively saves roughly $16,000 every year going forward, year after year, for as long as the equipment remains in service.
The chlorine generator did two things at the same time: it eliminated a supply chain vulnerability and converted a permanent operating expense into a long-term capital asset. That lesson directly influenced the design philosophy behind the Clark Well. This new facility will require significantly more chlorine, because groundwater from the Clark Well must be oxidized and filtered to remove naturally occurring iron and manganese. As a result, the Clark Well treatment system will consume roughly three times as much chlorine as the historic Eastsound treatment facilities, or about 30 gallons per day.
At today’s pricing, the financial case for on-site generation is even stronger than it was in 2021. Bulk chlorine now costs approximately $3.73 per gallon. Delivery costs have also risen to roughly $2.04 per gallon, bringing the total landed cost to approximately $5.77 per gallon. At that rate, purchasing 30 gallons of chlorine per day would cost roughly $63,000 per year.
Installing a new on-site generation system sized for the Clark Well costs approximately $85,000 in today’s post-COVID market. At current chemical and delivery pricing, that investment will pay for itself in about 1.35 years — roughly sixteen months! And just like the original system, the more important financial benefit begins after the payoff period passes.
Once the equipment is paid off, the utility is no longer spending that roughly $63,000 each year on delivered chlorine. Instead, the system can continue producing disinfectant from salt, water, and electricity at a much lower ongoing cost. In practical terms, that means the Clark Well chlorine generation system will not only strengthen emergency resilience. After payoff, it will also create the equivalent of roughly $63,000 in savings per year for the life of the facility.
In other words, the chlorine generators accomplish two things simultaneously.
- They make the water system more resilient, because chlorine can now be produced locally even when supply chains are disrupted
- They make the system financially stronger, because once the equipment is paid off the utility continues saving tens of thousands of dollars every year for the life of the facility (about $80,000 in savings per year)
And in the end, the process itself feels almost deceptively simple. A small building. A steady supply of electricity. Bags of ordinary salt. Inside the chlorine generation room, a quiet electrochemical reaction converts brine into a disinfectant — the same chlorine that protects drinking water systems around the world. Simply amazing.
From the outside this chlorine generation system looks like an ordinary piece infrastructure. Inside, it is something closer to a small piece of industrial alchemy. Salt. Water. Electricity. From those simple ingredients, Eastsound Water can produce the chlorine that keeps the community’s water safe, even when supply chains falter and storms cut power elsewhere.
That idea — turning simple, locally available resources into resilient infrastructure — is exactly the kind of thinking that shaped the Clark Well project.
Stay tuned for the next installment soon…
Dan Burke
General Manager
Eastsound Water