Sue Kennedy to retire from career of ensuring clean drinking water in Lewis County

CHEHALIS – Often times wearing an old leather hat, bright orange rain gear and work boots, for nearly three decades, Sue Kennedy has been traversing Lewis County with a mission to ensure clean drinking water for everyone.

Kennedy, 63, a Sr. Environmental Health Specialist with Lewis County managing the county’s public water program, retires on Thursday. She came to work for the county in 1994 and started in her current role in 2000.

In her county office is a reminder that states, ‘by means of water, we give life to everything.’

Kennedy has focused on creating a partnership and trust among citizens – they know what to look for and they know if they run into something they don’t know about they can call someone to help them out – to ensure a safe water supply.

Asked about her greatest accomplishments, “It’s because everybody works together and it’s my job to provide the tools and education to allow them to do it successfully,” Kennedy said humbly. “You get sustainability if everyone partners and creates networks – to provide potable water during a crisis – that’s working together and being accessible to the public.”

When asked about challenges she has faced, Kennedy pointed to groundwater issues such as high nitrates in the Klickitat Prairie near Mossyrock and arsenic in and around Mineral.

She would like to see countywide mapping to track arsenic levels in groundwater. “It’s silent, it has no flavor, it has no smell – you don’t know you have arsenic until you test for it,” Kennedy warned. It is also not expensive to have your water tested for arsenic. There are several labs, which provide sample bottles and pickup points in Lewis County.

Shallow groundwater tables exist in west Lewis County, especially around PeEll and Doty, which Kennedy says, makes water very vulnerable to contamination. She pointed out areas of what she described as ‘beautiful water’ – along the Cowlitz River in east Lewis County – but because it’s a gravel-cobble formation you can introduce contaminants into that kind of aquifer very easily.

“We have the same challenges that the rest of the country has with water pipelines that are reaching the end of their lives without the money to fix them”, Kennedy said.

“You have to have education, monitoring and all of the barriers in place – protect the well, protect the pipes and ensure they are not broken, be sure the pump house is clean and the reservoir is properly vented and sealed,” suggests Kennedy. “Lewis County has worked very hard to assure that the water supply here is as safe as possible with the challenges that every single water system faces.

Assisting Lewis County citizens maintain safe drinking water options through three flood events, Kennedy emotionally shared her assistance to a lady whose house had been flooded in 2007.

“She said I can’t go into my house, and I said how about I find someone to go in with you,” Kennedy recalled. “We had relationships with fire departments trucking water to areas where water lines were broken and I called a volunteer fire department and they sent someone out and went in with her – those are wins.”

The water systems in Lewis County have come so far during her 29 year career, primarily, Kennedy says, by thoroughly explaining to citizens the reasons behind certain regulations.

At a health fair several years ago, Kennedy was offering free water tests when she had a conversation with a Chehalis man resulting in Kennedy discovering what is now an EPA Superfund clean-up site near Hamilton and LaBree Roads. Property believed to contain potential carcinogens. Kennedy says the site is being cleaned up and everyone on contaminated wells were connected to the city of Chehalis water system.

“It’s been a lot of fun – it’s been a lot of challenges but overall I’ve loved working with people to bring incremental improvements to public health,” Kennedy said as she packed up her office space ahead of her final day on the job on Thursday.

Jeff Landrum, a licensed geologist with a master in hydrogeology, succeeds Kennedy on Friday.