The mountain view remains beautiful and the birds continue to soar over the area but the water remains high in one Dungeness basin.

Since March, water has receded only a few inches as evidenced in Norvin Knight’s driveway off Bud’s Way, off Nisbet Road and Lotzgesell Road where a murky line lays above the waterline.

Residents say the high water level for the Dungeness Greens wetland is the highest it’s ever been and they don’t anticipate water being dried up until mid-summer.

But many have done their due diligence in trying to prevent homes and yards from flooding when the water rose in late 2015 and years prior.

Knight, who moved in November, said he attempted to use a sump pump in his crawl space with some early success but as the water rose he found that wherever he pumped, the water eventually came back in.

Jennifer Boyce, who has rented a home for about two years south of Knight’s home on Bud’s Way, said they still use cinderblocks to access steps in their front and backyards.

“We had to figure out a way to get into the house somehow,” she said.

Knight and Boyce haven’t experienced any issues inside their homes, but Boyce said they’ve only been able to mow a portion of their grass due to the high water while Knight can’t access his mower due to the water.

Husband and wife Michael Moss and Betty Gordon, who built a home across the wetland on Green Valley Lane in 2006, said they were advised to plan for possible high water.

The couple chose to build there, they said to be in “God’s country to retire” and for the “fantastic view.”

A year after construction, they installed two sump pumps under their home due to high water in their front yard and another in their yard two years later that pump into the wetland. They also installed a culvert with a gate from their yard to the wetland to block water from coming to them.

The couple said the high water never has been an issue like this year though.

Moss said water was coming into his yard so he used a trash pump to take water out and from his soon-to-be neighbor’s yard and place it into the wetland.

Water had gotten so high it went around the cul de sac to flood undeveloped parcels and the new development before crews with Westerra Homes built up the foundation and filled in the yard.

That new fill, Moss said, is preventing water from flowing into their yard and potentially saving them from more water.

Possible issues

What’s causing the immense flooding may be coming from multiple factors.

The leading issue may be high rainfall since the Sequim-Dungeness area saw a record 23.07 inches of rain last year with 6 inches of that coming in December.

Dave Lasorsa, environmental coordinator for Clallam County Public Works, said even though residents were pumping water to the basin, which drains to the wetland under Hogback Road, the water rose so high it drained back.

He met with residents earlier this year to seek possible solutions but he and other county officials say they are unable to help because the roads are private.

However, Lasorsa said he’s continued to research the area on his own time and learned most of residents around the basin sit atop Bellingham soil, which is a silty clay loam.

Lasorsa said the soil holds water about one foot down and any additional water on top will continue to sit for a while due to the poor permeability of the soil.

With this soil in the area, “The Soil Survey of Clallam County” from 1987 states that since it drains poorly, the “unit is poorly suited to homesite development.”

Lasorsa said another possible reason for the flooding may have been caused accidentally when a developer pierced an aquifer in 1989 and it may still be sending water to the area.

During planning and development for Dungeness Greens Way, a drainage plan was created by a consulting firm in 1997 for short plats and it shows that Knight and Boyce’s properties are partially in this flood plain.

To prevent flooding, Lasorsa said the drainage plan suggested developments create bermed ponds to divert water, which some of the homes have today but not Knight’s or Boyce’s. The plan doesn’t show any design work for their properties to develop holding ponds.

“Any drainage plan would have not have been very effective compared to an overreaching plan for the whole area,” Lasorsa said.

Natural state

Arni Fredrickson, a homeowner on Lone Eagle Lane, said he and other residents around the wetland have sought solutions for flooding relief since 2011 from the county but were told staff couldn’t do anything due to their roads being private.

Following his own investigation, Fredrickson believes there once was natural drainage from the wetland to the north side of the 600 block of Lotzgesell Road.

He viewed imaging maps from the county and said viewers can see there once was a swail by Lotzgesell Road likely caused by drainage.

He and other homeowners are considering hiring a surveyor to measure the elevation there and on Green Valley Lane to see if water could drain to Lotzgesell Road.

If the ditch is lower, then Fredrickson suggests county staff and homeowners seek an easement for a ditch diagonally from Nisbet Road or going north on Bud’s Way to the Lotzgesell drainage area.

“I believe it will (drain), but I don’t have the professional know-how,” he said.

After the study is done, Fredrickson said there will be facts in place to investigate solutions and possible issues such as any blocked drainage.

Clallam County staff upgraded the culvert going from the basin under Lotzgesell Road by Five Acre School and countersunk it another foot in response to concerns for flooding in 2011. Tyler told homeowners there wasn’t much else they could do because of the homes being on private roads.

“The area is just unfortunately at the bottom of everything,” Tyler told the Gazette previously. “There’s nothing in that area it can drain to.”

Lasorsa said the purpose of improving the culvert was to prevent flooding over the road and that without right of way they are limited on how much they can do.

If any proposal for future draining overflow is proposed, Lasorsa said “environmental concerns will need to be addressed and homeowners will need to work together.”

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.