Ames Lake Water Association (ALWA) is born

Later, residents also evaluated the creation of a private water company and a water utility cooperative. By the late 1960s, the residents decided to form a water utility cooperative – and in April 1969, the Ames Lake Water Association (ALWA) was born. A Board of Trustees was elected, and then created by-laws and Articles of Incorporation, engaged an attorney and an engineer, and applied for a construction loan from the Farmers Home Administration. The loan was obtained in December of 1969. Thus, the Ames Lake Water Association started as a federally funded rural water cooperative.

Planning and design of the system continued through 1969, and, by February 1970, construction began.  A & J Utility Contractors of Bellevue was the general contractor. The engineering firm of Lee Johnson & Associates, based in Evertt, administered the construction contract. Original ALWA Board members Jim Hickman and Fred Cartozian represented the Association during the project. Some of the residents, now members of the Association, pitched in to dig ditches and help install the first of the water mains.

Water service began for some members in May 1970. At that time, the Association had 87 members. The Ames Lake, Ames Lake Vista and Ridgehaven areas were included in the new system service area. The Vista Well No. 1 located adjacent to the current Association office was one of the original two wells that supplied the water system. Construction of the system was completed in early 1971.