The Struggle for Walla Walla's Water
An engineer’s report declares Mill Creek the city's only viable future lifeline, dismissing local springs and wells as inadequate for a growing population.
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That the only source of supply for Walla Walla to secure an adequate amount of water for all time to come is Mill Creek is the conclusion that Engineer Weile has reached and which was embodied in his report to the council last night. The report, covering 17 pages, argues that with the city's growth, consumption will climb to 3.5 million gallons daily within a decade. Weile condemned reliance on the Thomas springs, noting that infiltration ditches would be expensive and uncertain, and dismissed artesian wells as insufficient and unreliable. Instead, he recommended a gravity-fed system diverting from the headwaters of Mill Creek near the Blue Mountains, citing its purity and massive, reliable flow.
“Mill creek is the only source within reach that carries at all seasons of the year a quantity of water many times more than the city of Walla Walla will require for many years.”
The quest for a sustainable, gravity-fed water source from the Blue Mountains defined Walla Walla's urban expansion for decades. Today, these same mountain watersheds remain central to the city's civic and environmental identity, mirroring current debates about balancing utility needs with watershed preservation.
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