Water Specialist Sue Kennedy started working for Lewis County Public Health & Social Services’s Environmental Health Division when her hair was a chestnut brown.
Twenty-nine years later, her hair is gray and adorned with tinsel — emblematic of her uniqueness. The county will hire someone and plans to spend several months onboarding them with Kennedy ahead of her retirement in April 2023, according to public health director Meja Handlen.
Kennedy is a jewel in government work in ways beyond her high level of specialty, too. She crafted her niche through study of science and policy; then, she stayed.
Her husband’s career and her motherhood helped root her to Lewis County, she said. But the main motivation she’s had to stay in her role for so long is her passion for education.
In her tenure, she’s built strong relationships with water system operators — whether they run water for a whole community or have a well for one home.
“They have a problem, they call us. They’re very comfortable with that,” she said. “It isn’t someone 100 miles away. On the phone it’s, ‘Oh, it’s Sue.’”
From naturally-occurring arsenic in Mineral’s aquifer to nitrate in the water near Mossyrock, Kennedy said Lewis County’s diverse geography mirrors its diverse spread of water-related public health issues.
Public water systems in the county are split into four groups: group A, which serve 15 or more households or equivalent, businesses with 25 or more customers per day or facilities such as schools; group B, which serve between three and 14 households or equivalent; shared water supplies, which are wells that serve two households or one residence and one accessory dwelling unit; and single family residential wells.
About half the county’s residents are on Group A water systems, according to a presentation by Kennedy to the Lewis County Board of Health early this year, which are systems under the jurisdiction of the state. The other half of residents are in Kennedy’s realm — with about 41% on group B systems and 7% using single family residential wells or shared water supplies.
The hardest and most life-saving efforts have come from her work with the latter two. She showed pictures of one site she helped bring up to standard in West Lewis County where batteries and garbage were scattered around a yard near the exposed top of a hand-dug well. After helping them repair the system and surrounding area, she said the site has not failed a bacterial test since the late 1990s.
“This is what you live for, is these results,” she said.
Another shining memory in Kennedy’s career came on a morning in December, 2007 during the Chehalis Basin’s worst flood on record.
“I was on the phone that morning with the (Boistfort) water system and with The Chronicle. I think it was about 5 a.m., I was saying ‘You need to get the word out,’” she said.
Boistfort water customers were on a boil-water advisory for months after the flood.
“It was necessary,” Kennedy added.
As for Mossyrock’s persistent issue with nitrate, she said, water containing over 10 milligrams of nitrate per liter can cause serious health issues for the elderly and babies, who are at a much higher risk of developing “blue baby syndrome” because of depleted blood oxygen levels. The nitrate in the Klickitat Prairie is likely man-introduced because of nearby agriculture, she said.
She recalls driving through Mossyrock one day past a well she knew had high nitrate levels.
“I saw a child’s toy in the front yard, so I pulled in,” Kennedy said. “I said ‘Hello, you don’t know me, but I’m really concerned because it looks like you have children… have you recently tested for nitrate?”
The new homeowners had not. When they did test, the level was well over what is safe for anyone to consume, let alone children. They were able to connect with the city government to get safe drinking water from there on out.
“Those are the things you take home,” Kennedy said, adding later, “That’s a community that cares about itself and were willing to be part of the solution.”
Kennedy said all those involved in Lewis County Public Health’s water programs, including lab workers who test for contaminants, are passionate about educating the public and are happy to field questions on keeping water safe and clean for all uses.
To learn more about Lewis County’s water program, call 360-740-2691 or email sue.kennedy@lewiscountywa.gov.
