Walla Walla Council Backs Test Wells for City Water
The City Council votes to move forward with tapping the Thomas springs, rejecting a controversial Mill Creek plan that critics fear could lead to bankruptcy and litigation.
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The city council last night, by a vote of four to three, adopted a resolution introduced by Councilman Boyer in favor of sinking wells on the Thomas ranch to ascertain the depth at which an adequate supply of water may be secured. If a good supply is found at no great depth, it is proposed to run a tunnel for half a mile or so between Mill Creek and the Yellow Hawk on a level with the flow of water found. After adopting the Boyer resolution, the council voted to refer it to the water committee. Councilman Boyer was right in his statement that the people of this city will not vote to abandon the city's $10,000 water right and $15,000 development work at Thomas springs in order to take up the Mill Creek proposition with a prospect of interminable lawsuits with riparian owners. It is hoped that the other three members of the council will now recognize the utter impossibility of putting through the Weile scheme and will join with the majority in carrying out the Thomas springs plan.
“It will be a bitter disappointment to certain persons interested in having the city abandon its valuable rights at Thomas springs to have the council refuse to serve their purposes.”
Public control of water rights remains a contentious issue in the inland Northwest, reflecting a century-long struggle to balance growth, municipal infrastructure costs, and environmental protection.
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