Welcome to Maury Mutual Water Company
The Maury Mutual Water Company (MMWC) is a private, non-profit water company located on the northwest side of Maury Island.
We collect water from two groundwater sources: springs (S01) and a deep well (S02). Both sources are located on an 18-acre parcel along Luana Beach Road. Spring water is gravity fed to the springhouse from wellpoints driven into a shallow, unconfined aquifer.
History of Maury Mutual Water Company:
The first pipes for what would become Maury Mutual Water Company (MMWC) were installed in 1911 by Mr. A. M. Rivers, then owner of the land presently occupied by our water company. His vested claim to this water was filed in King County Court on December 12, 1912. Spring water was collected in a concrete diversion box and pumped by a ram up to the old County School on 240th & 59th Streets. Mr. O. T. Peterson bought the land and system from Mr. Rivers in 1937, and supplied water to families along Luana Beach Road west as far as the Dockton Road junction with Point Robinson Road. This became the lower part of the system. Meanwhile, several families up on the hill in the vicinity of 240th Street and 59th Ave SW hooked up on the then-existing wooden 1,000 gallon tank at the school and became the upper part of the system.
In 1948, Mr. Peterson expressed his desire to sell the system. Mr. E. F. Lewis, Mr. Merry, Mr. Waterman, and Mr. Bixby acquired the system, and four years later formed the Maury Mutual Water System cooperative. All existing customers were invited to purchase a share of the newly created cooperative.
A pump house and collection reservoir were built in the spring of 1952 and the ram was retired. A concrete holding basin, with approximately 25,000 gallon capacity, was built in 1955 on 63rd Ave. This was the reservoir for the lower system. In 1974, the old wooden tank at the school was abandoned. It was functionally replaced by a 12,000 gallon steel tank which was located at the top of the hill on 59th Ave SW at the site of a small 5,000 gallon steel tank constructed in the 1960s. These two tanks comprised the storage for the upper system.
In 1979 a 58,000 gallon concrete tank was added at the upper site and a 78,000 gallon concrete tank was built at the lower site. The previous earthen holding basin at the lower site was abandoned. These three tanks totaling 148,000 gallons serve Maury Mutual’s present shareholders.
Our cooperative initially served 44 connections, by the 1980’s membership had doubled and peak demand had surpassed production capacity of the springs. Despite attempts to increase spring production (new sump and pump station in 1964, well points in 1980, and infiltration gallery in 1989), water shortages and restrictions on usage had become summertime norms. In 1992, MMWC drilled a deep well capable of providing 50 gpm. MMWC now had water in sufficient quantity, but elevated levels of secondary contaminants (iron, manganese & hydrogen sulfide) made the well water less desirable than that of the springs. An ozone treatment system was installed in 1995, but water quality was not improved. In 2011 the ozone system was replaced by one utilizing chlorine to oxidize the iron and manganese and Greensand Plus to filter contaminants from the water. Though well water is markedly improved, the springs remain the preferred water source. Source redundancy allows MMWC to take either source offline for maintenance and/or repairs without interrupting service or compromising the quality of water delivered to the shareholders.