The Pogues fill up at their home off of U.S. Highway 26.

SEASIDE — An untreated water main runs down their driveway in the middle of the property off of U.S. Highway 26. To the east, the water system’s headwaters are only a mile and a half away. The treated water connection is 1,700 feet to the west. But Peggy and Brian Pogue can’t get drinking water for their home for up to 10 years, the city says, when the system receives upgrades.

“We’re stuck, really,” Brian Pogue told the City Council this month. “We don’t have a water source. Right now, it’s absolutely making us miserable. Our request is that you consider letting us tap your untreated line since we already have a treatment system in place that we used for our well water. Your line already crosses our property and we believe it would be an easy job to tap the line and install a meter.”

About three months ago, the Pogues’ well, which had been in operation 40 years, went dry or was damaged by settling.

Nearby Mail Creek is on a lower bank with a steep grade, with limited water this time of year, they said. The state is considering giving the Pogues limited water rights to the creek, but then only for two years.

“It’s problematic because the creek has limited water supply during the driest part of the year,” Pogue said.

After being advised to drill a new well, they found a location.

“The result of drilling down 204 feet was 1 gallon per minute of salt water and basically a dry hole at the cost of $12,000,” the Pogues wrote in a letter to the city.

The Pogues, commercial landlords, own five buildings in Seaside. Filling water tanks from those hookups proved unwieldy and slow, taking hours to fill the two 275-gallon tanks they used to transport water to their home.

When informed by city staff that they could draw water from the Public Works Department, they now fill up two tanks a trip, which they pay a monthly fee for. To carry 4,000 to 5,000 gallons of water from the Public Works Department to their home off the highway requires eight to 10 round trips.

Without a water source, they have been hauling water from town for their household use for the past several months.

After conversations with city officials, they were told upgrades to their system would be at least 10 years in the future.

But the city has concerns that the raw water destined for processing is not potable, and the water main may not always have enough water in it to allow water to be taken.

The hydraulics make the gravity flow of this supply problematic and possibly not feasible for year-round use, Public Works Director Dale McDowell said, while a lack of reliable year-round flow creates another potential liability issue for the city. The length of piping — 1,700 feet of service line — could lead to cracks, broken piping or other causes for leaking and water loss.

“It sounds to me like at this point maybe the best thing that the council could do would be not to take action,” City Manager Mark Winstanley said. “I know Mike (Dimmick, the water foreman) is very interested in trying to help the Pogues. It sounds like the council’s interested in doing it. It’s just a matter of practicality.

“We do have to protect our ability to deliver water to our 3,800 other customers. That certainly has to be the primary concern. But we certainly would be interested in exploring any avenue that’s available, and it sounds to me like there needs to be some more exploring before making a decision.”

The Pogues say they are actually part of those 3,800 other customers because of their commercial buildings with water accounts and their home is in the Seaside fire district.

“The issue is whether I treat it myself, or if I have to take a truck to fill it up,” Pogue said. “It’s a pain in the butt. If we’re not part of the community, why are people who are 1,700 feet away considered part of the community and being served? We love the community of Seaside. It’s been our home since 1976. The city of Seaside has always been really good to us, and we have the greatest respect for them.”

Mayor Jay Barber said the City Council has struggled with the request. “We’d love to be able to do it but the state is telling us something different. … I’m going to ask the council to table your requests, and continue to work on potential options and alternatives,” he said.