Bonney Lake to pump flood water into Lake Tapps

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. -- For several months, high water has hampered homeowners in Pierce County. Just getting to and from their homes has been a challenge.

On Friday, city engineers plan to start pumping the water out of the impacted neighborhoods.

But homeowners tell Q13 News flooding like this has happened before and many are demanding a permanent fix.

City engineers said the water that’s been collecting for weeks usually drains into the ground, but for some reason this year is different.

Crews scrambled to build a pump system, which snakes through neighbor’s yards and across streets. A dozen homeowners had to find new ways to get in and out of their driveways as runoff rainwater has steadily risen since Christmas.

“The water is coming from the heavens,” said City of Bonney Lake engineer, John Woodcock. “It’s all rainwater. We’ve searched for any other new sources of water and we have not found any.”

A pump is being installed at the eastern side of the flood and engineers plan to dump the water through 1500 feet of hosing directly which will then flow directly into Lake Tapps.

Woodcock told Q13 News the city is cooperating with several state agencies to mitigate the 20-25 million gallons of flood water.

The price tag could reach $20,000 for equipment rental and overtime costs.

The waterfowl don’t seem to mind all the water but neighbors do. In some areas the water is too high for cars to drive through.

Neighbor Eileen Bradley said she wants the city to find a permanent fix for the problem.

“They’ve told us that they realize it’s inconvenient,” said Bradley. “Well, I think it’s way more than inconvenient and this point I think it’s really dangerous.

Something similar happened back in 1996 but then the water receded on it’s own according to Woodcock.

If all goes as planned it could take a week to drop the water levels by 1 foot.