City crews discovered another break on the Olympic Gravity Water System (OGWS) pipeline on June 4, the fifth break along the pipeline since last year. 

The 6-inch break occurred in a welded joint of the 30-inch pipe near 222 Aerie Lane, wrote Steve King, director of public works for Port Townsend. It occurred in the same section of the pipeline as the Jan. 22 break between Anderson Lake Road and Four Corners Road.  

“It’s difficult to say how long the pipeline was leaking in this location,” King wrote. “The adjacent homeowner happened to be clearing an older trail on his property and noticed a wet area which he reported to the city.” 

City crews excavated the site and installed a temporary repair band to reduce the break and allow time for a custom repair band to be fabricated and installed. 

Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro granted an emergency declaration on June 10 to facilitate immediate repairs. Council ratified the declaration on June 16, waiving the public bidding process for the repairs. 

The pipeline, which provides water to Port Townsend, Glen Cove and surrounding areas, operating since 1928, is one of the oldest water systems in the state.

An annual pipeline repair budget is set in the 2021 Water Supply Agreement between the city and the Port Townsend Paper Co. Both entities pay into The OGWS Sinking Fund which covers repair costs that exceed the annual budget. 

At the end of 2024, the fund had a reserve of $9.49 million, King wrote. 

The agreement estimated there would be one repair needed per year. For 2025, that budget was set at $65,673. 

Regarding how much has been spent on repairs this year alone, King wrote, “The repairs are in various stages of completion and many of the costs have not come in yet so we can’t answer this question definitively until all the invoices have been received.”

He estimated that depending on the method, the cost of repairing pipeline breaks and leaks run between $50,000 and $100,000. 

City staff are working on a pipeline condition assessment to better understand the frequency and location of breaks to inform future capital projects that would replace failure prone sections. Negotiations are underway with the mill for are the creation of an updated Operations and Maintenance Manual to provide standards of care pipeline maintenance, operation and emergency procedures. 

“The City is continuing to learn from each break,” King wrote. “The City and Mill will be updating the investment schedule for proactive replacement and/or repairs of the pipeline with a focus on locations where the break history is illustrating a pattern of risk