Letter to Editor | The crisis at Eastsound Water Users Association

||| FROM CONCERNED CITIZENS LISTED BELOW |||

If you are one of the 70% of Orcas Island residents who receives water from Eastsound, Doe Bay, Rosario, and Olga water users associations, you depend on the experienced water system operators of the Eastsound Water User Association (EWUA) who operate all of these water systems. EWUA water operators are the dedicated, highly trained and certified professionals who work behind the scenes treating and delivering safe drinking water 24/7, 365 days a year so your family can turn on the tap with confidence.

Unfortunately, as a direct result of years of a toxic work environment created by the General Manager (GM), EWUA is on the precipice of a crisis that will affect its ability to safely operate all of these water systems. 

Operator morale is at an all-time low due to conflict with the GM, unsafe working conditions (with over $25,000 in fines for workplace safety violations from Labor & Industries in one year), unpaid on-call time, and ongoing mismanagement of the organization. In less than half a year, EWUA has lost 5 employees out of a staff of 12, including the recent resignation of two of its most valuable and experienced operators. These operators, who left in disgust with the state of management, carried deep institutional knowledge essential for the operation of complex and aging water systems on the island. 

Due to the loss of these employees, the remaining operations team is stretched to the breaking point. Currently, there is only one remaining operator who is running the entire Rosario water system AND Rosario wastewater system. He is currently on track to be solely responsible for its operation 7 days per week, 365 days per year with no replacement in sight. The Rosario water plant has been described by the WA Department of Health as the most complex water system in the entire state. 

Even if another highly qualified and certified operator were to be hired today, it would take a minimum of 1-2 years of full time training to get this operator up to speed to be able to run the plant without assistance.

On top of all this, this current operator who is running this plant alone 365 days per year has long given notice of his retirement, now coming in less than 2 years. This is an imminent emergency for the future of the Rosario water and wastewater.

This is just the current situation at the Rosario water plant- the rest of the operations team for Eastsound, Doe Bay, and Olga facilities are stretched to the breaking point with the recent staff resignations and a failure to hire and train new staff. 

This “operator gap” crisis is a result of years of mismanagement and workplace intimidation from the GM, and has been made even more acute with recent resignations. This association urgently needs to retain its remaining operations team to cover the multi-year process of training new operators.

During a private meeting with the majority of the remaining operations staff and board representatives on 4/26/26, the operators laid out a litany of allegations against the GM of toxic workplace, intimidation, false accusations, rampant dishonesty, and financial fraud and malfeasance. Having no grievance policy or HR department, these operators have had nowhere to go with their claims against the GM as the GM is their only supervisor. It was deeply disturbing to hear of the physical and emotional toll that these operators are enduring as a result of the GM’s toxicity, and it is only their dedication to each other and to this community that is keeping them from quitting. Despite this dedication, all of the remaining operators made it clear that they would be on their way out if things were not to improve quickly.

As highly concerned members, we call for the EWUA board to immediately put the General Manager on administrative leave until these allegations can be handled by a professional third party investigation. This association desperately needs a manager who shows the capacity to provide a safe and functional work environment and has the ability to retain our remaining essential operations team. 

The safe drinking water for 70% of Orcas Island depends on it.

If you find this situation concerning, we urge you to write with your desire for the GM to be put on leave and initiate an immediate investigation to: president@eastsoundwater.org

We also encourage all members to attend the monthly public board meetings and make public comments. The next meeting is at 5pm on May 19th at the Eastsound Firehall.

SIGNED

• Emmett Adam
• B.J. Arnold
• Dick Arnold
• Robert Austin
• Brett Bartmasser
• Jamie Beechum
• Elisabeth Britt
• Brooke Budner
• Pauline Chiquet
• James Cook
• Patty Cook
• Betty Corbett
• Miramonee Darling
• Brian Ehrmantraut
• Randall Gaylord
• Libi Geddis
• Ignacio Cruz Gonzalez
• Dan Gottlieb
• Grace Gotlieb
• Bruce Halabisky
• Cory Harrington
• Dave Johnson
• Fred Klein
• Tiffany Loney
• Kim Mason
• Chanda McKeaver
• Rob Meyer
• James Most
• Weston Mueller
• Matt Nelson
• Sara Joy Palmer
• Michael Riordan
• Joseph Segault
• Cornelius Sprenger
• Elizabeth Star
• Trillium Swanson
• Maryann Syers
• David Turnoy
• Teri Williams
• Haley Cruz Winchell
• Bill Wulff