Strengthening communities by building infrastructure: Pateros, Snohomish
In the summer of 2014, the largest wildfire in our state’s history devastated communities in Okanogan County. The city of Pateros was hit hard. Not only were hundreds of homes lost, but fire engulfed and severely damaged the city’s water tanks. Commerce has partnered with Pateros to address its severe water system needs and improve this rural city’s capacity to recover. Funding from Commerce includes a $2.7 million Community Development Block Grant and $2.8 million appropriated by the state Legislature to construct new wells, storage reservoirs, pump stations and water lines. These state funds also leveraged USDA Rural Development loan financing.
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Thanks in part to investments from the Clean Energy Fund, SnohomishPUD and Mulkilteo-based UniEnergy Technologies (UET) will celebrate the world’s largest containerized vanadium flow battery system. SnoPUD is exploring micro-grid “islanding” as a solution to provide auxiliary power during major outages.