In the mid-1980s King County government recognized that spaghetti lines running within the right-of-way presented a problem with maintenance. When the District updated its Comprehensive Water Plan in the late 1980s, the District was required to adopt a policy prohibiting the issuance of new ESAs. Since June 1987, the District has not been able to allow new ESAs. Spaghetti lines are the responsibility of individual property owners. When these lines break, property owners often find it very difficult to locate and repair these lines. In addition, the lack of permanent water mains to properties usually means that fire protection is not available to those properties.
The District’s present policy requiring the extension of permanent water mains allows the permanent water system to be extended in a logical and reasonable fashion. Finally, there is the issue of equity. Property owners who have ESAs have not paid their fair share for the District’s water system. In other words, properties, which have permanent water mains, which were constructed through ULIDs, have paid their share for the construction of the water system through assessments, and properties that have permanent water mains, which were constructed through Developer Extension Agreements, have paid their share for the water main construction at the time they purchased the property.