(Editor's Note: The following letter was sent to Leslie Newman with a copy to the Times/News.)

Dear Ms. Newman,

I listened with amazement to your comments to the Des Moines City Council on Oct. 30 regarding the alleged inadequacies of King County Water District #54 in its ability to supply water, with the resulting possibility that a fire would destroy the entire downtown business district, and your recommendation that the city take over the district.

Your statements did an injustice, not only to the water district, but also the fire district.

Your interest in the development of the city is commendable. However, I don't know where you obtained any information up on which you based your comments, but let me advise you that your factual information is totally erroneous.

This district recently completed a project to upgrade our system. Before doing any planning, the district asked both the city and then Fire District #26 to advise us of the needs of the city and the fire department for water availability and fire fighting capabilities to ultimate build-out of the area served by this district.

We were told that we needed to provide 3,500 gallons of water per minute for three hours. District planning was then directed to meeting those water supply requirements. At a City Council study session earlier this year, the city council reaffirmed the goals that we were required to meet.

While there are still a few areas where we need to install larger pipe sizes to meet the goals set, the district has, in the main, met the goals set for us by the city and the fire district.

We are now in the planning stages for additional improvements to our system to better serve our customers.

Unfortunately, financial considerations affect our ability to do all of those projects at once. All of our income comes from the 3,800 residents of the district who purchase our water through our 768 water connections (meters).

Our estimates are that it will cost over $5 million just to upgrade the downtown area to meet the newly increased flows requested by the fire district.

If you have an office within our district, you could be one of the 768 bill payers from whom those millions will have to be collected.

Even if we were taken over by the city, as you suggested, there is no assurance that the cost would be spread among all of the residents of the city.

City street projects also affect our priorities, and our finances. A little more than ten years ago, we installed a new water main across the fill on Marine View Drive, when it was redone.

That line should have lasted a minimum of fifty years and probably closer to 100 years. Then the city put in a bridge, and the entire project had to be redone.

We will be paying for the original work for another ten years, as well as paying for the revised work for another twenty years.

Currently, the city is planning to renew 216th Street, which will require us to renew our line there at a cost of about $600,000.

The water district commissioners meet at 4 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month, at our office at 922 S. 219th Street in Des Moines.

Those meetings are open to the public. Although you do not reside in our district, you are cordially invited to come to one or more of our meetings where the concerns you expressed can be fully addressed, and you can review the district's ongoing planning for future improvements in our system.

John Rayback

Commissioner

King County Water District #54