H2Olympia
Encyclopedia
H2Olympia stands for the group "H2Olympia: Artesian Well Advocates", a non-profit organization in Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...

. The name of the group was revised in July, 2009 from "H2Oly: Artesian Well Advocates." The group was formed to advocate for permanent public access to the artesian
Artesian aquifer
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an artesian well...

 water system.

The artesian water in Olympia was given notoriety in the slogan, "It's the Water" by the Olympia Brewing Company
Olympia Brewing Company
The Olympia Brewing Company was a brewery in Tumwater, Washington which existed from 1896 until 2003.-History:Leopold Schmidt, a German immigrant from Montana founded The Capital Brewing Company at Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes River in the town of Tumwater, near the south end of Puget Sound...

. The phrase was printed on cans and other marketing materials for the beer.

The Jefferson Street well

The current publicly accessible well, on the corner of Jefferson Street and 4th Avenue, is made available due to an agreement made the Thurston County PUD, the City of Olympia, and the property owner, Diamond Parking. This agreement states that the PUD
Public utility district
In the United States, a public utility district is a special-purpose district or other governmental jurisdiction that provides public utilities to the residents of that district.PUDs are created by a local government body, such as a city, county, or...

will test the well to make sure that it meets drinking water guidelines. The City of Olympia pays for the testing. This agreement is considered a temporary solution to the access issue as the property is for sale.

Prior to current testing agreement, the testing was paid for by Friends of Artesians. Friends of Artesians also sought a permanent solution to the well issue, but was unable to achieve that goal. They disbanded and wrote an open letter to the City Council and the Mayor which was published in a local newspaper WORKS IN PROGRESS.
Friends of Artesians had also been providing the testing for the well in terms of human consumption. Their disbanding left the testing issue unresolved, which meant that public access might be denied.

A group of citizens formed a group called "It's Still the Water" and advocated for public access during the process that resulted in current agreement.

Members of "It's Still The Water" realized that they needed to form as a non-profit organization for the long-term goal of a permanent solution to the artesian well access. This group is now called H2Olympia: Artesian Well Advocates.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK