In recent years Oak Harbor’s water customers could count on using as much as 970 million gallons of water annually.

That’s how many gallons were agreed to in a contract with the city of Anacortes, which supplies Oak Harbor and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

So far, city residents, and the nearby Navy base, have yet to use that much.

But it’s getting closer.

Oak Harbor’s water consumption is now nearing the maximum level outlined in the contract, with the city closing in on the 97 percent mark.

Is that cause for concern?

Some say yes — at least as far as upcoming contract negotiations are concerned.

Oak Harbor Finance Director Doug Merriman informed City Council members last week about the city’s growing water consumption.

“We’re creeping up to that maximum amount,” Merriman said.

Merriman said he will be sitting in on discussions with the city of Anacortes, which is in the midst of a regular, three-year rate study.

Still, city officials say there isn’t much cause for concern.

Should Oak Harbor exceed its water quota, Anacortes will gladly supply extra water, although at a slightly higher cost.

Indeed, some cities stick with out-of-date water quotas instead of renegotiating their rates, said Bob Hyde, Anacortes Public Works director.

“Some of our small customers, it’s actually cheaper to pay the penalty clause in the contract than renegotiate the rate,” Hyde said. “The bigger customers get a better deal.”

Oak Harbor is the Anacortes water utility’s third largest customer. The Shell and Tesoro oil refineries are the largest consumers. Anacortes also provides water to its own residents, as well as the town of La Conner, the Swinomish Indian Reservation and portions of Fidalgo Island served by the Skagit Public Utility District.

The Anacortes water utility gets its water from the Skagit River, pumping the water westward through transmission lines that run along Highway 20.

Oak Harbor’s water lines hook up at Sharpe’s Corner, (where Highway 20 makes the curve away from Anacortes and toward Whidbey Island), and run underneath the Deception Pass Bridge to the Ault Field pump station at the Navy base, and then into the city of Oak Harbor.

The city of Oak Harbor is in the middle of a water rate study, which should be completed sometime next month.

Most of the city’s water costs are due directly to rates charged by Anacortes.

In 1998, Anacortes initiated an expensive but needed replacement of aging water lines that run through the Skagit Flats. That project, in combination with other rising costs, led to a 43 percent increase in water rates in Oak Harbor over just one year.

Typically, Anacortes boosts water rates from 3 to 4 percent.

Merriman said increasing environmental regulations aimed at preserving salmon have made water an even more precious resource these days in the Northwest. In the Skagit River, the water level needs to stay above a certain point to protect salmon runs.

Fortunately, Hyde said the city of Anacortes negotiated an agreement in the late 1990s with Skagit County commissioners, the Skagit PUD and area Indian tribes, which provides guaranteed water rights.

“We have water rights that allow us basically to triple what we’re pulling out of the water right now with no problem,” Hyde said.

Part of the agreement called for increasing conservation among water users, Hyde added. In Oak Harbor, the city displays the current water level through highway signs that, during dryer times, encourages residents to do their part to conserve.

Still, water conservation amounts to a trickle, when looking at the Skagit River as a whole, Hyde said.

“We use less than 1 percent of all the water that flows down the river,” he said. “We’re insignificant. More water evaporates than what we use.”