Meeting to examine our water

Your water source is the Skagit River. The City of Anacortes is a senior water rights holder that sells water to the City of Oak Harbor, La Conner, Swinomish Tribal Community, Tesoro and Shell Puget Sound refineries, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and Skagit Public Utility District No. 1 that serves Mount Vernon, Burlington and Sedro-Woolley.

Without granting a public hearing, the City of Anacortes signed a 30-year contract with Tethys Enterprises, a venture capital group. The contract entitles Tethys to five million gallons of water per day for a 30-acre, mega food and beverage plant. Products may include bottled water, and plastic bottles will be manufactured onsite. You are invited to join a citizen's group that will study the contract and which will present environmental questions to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) committee.

Anacortes Councilwoman Erica Picket will explain the SEPA process. Ingrid Tohver of the Climate Impacts Group, U. of W., will present the influence of climate change upon the Skagit River's flow. Mark Savoca of the U. S. Geological Survey will present a 2009 study of water availability in the Lower Skagit Basin. Jen Kingfisher of The Plastics Project at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center will explain the dangers of plastic nurdles that are used to manufacture plastic bottles.

The open meeting is set for Tuesday night at 7:30 in the public meeting room at the library.