POULSBO — When it comes to stormwater systems, theory is nice but the wet stuff is the real test.

For the hotly-debated Olhava stormwater plan, the last week’s rain was the heaviest flow the site has had since it was clear cut for development in 2002. But its performance is still a matter of debate.

Owing to its unique location next to the Olympics’ rain shadow, Poulsbo fared well compared to other locations across the Kitsap Peninsula. An estimated 2.56 to 3.2 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period Monday. Comparatively, Bremerton received more than 6 inches and Bainbridge Island received about 4 inches in the same period.

Still, Little Norway’s rainfall was one for the record books.

“This would be way beyond typical for this time of year. It would be excessive,” commented Keith Svarthumle, utilities foreman for Poulsbo Public Works.

Poulsbo Project Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak added that Poulsbo’s recordings for Monday would qualify as somewhere between a 10-year and 100-year storm occurrence. A 100-year storm for Poulsbo would be more than 5 inches in a 24-hour period.

“When you add up the amount we got four or five days in a row I don’t think we’ve had too many days in history that we’ve had so much rain,” Kasiniak said.

While the rain was a quenching factor for plants after a long, dry summer, it wreaked havoc on local stormwater systems. Public Works and Engineering crews were busy fixing overflowing storm drains and monitoring outfalls — in particular the Olhava stormwater systems.

For city staff and Olhava Associates, Olhava’s system worked with a few minor glitches. Kasiniak said in all, stormwater ponds and outfalls on the 216-acre property appeared to have functioned the way they were designed and erosion control measures were working as best they could. Of course, there was some silty runoff into local streams that was not planned.

“Even if you plan the best erosion control plan, you find out the problems when you have a big storm,” Kasiniak said. “We learned a lot yesterday.”

But for Tom Anderson, that answer just doesn’t fly.

Anderson, one of three individuals appealing the Olhava Site 4A (Wal-Mart) stormwater permit against the Department of Ecology, Olhava Associates and Wal-Mart, said he saw muddy runoff in Johnson Creek last week as a sign of problems that he’s concerned may not be one-time.

“We were concerned this would happen,” Anderson commented.

Anderson said late last week and early this week he was near the Olhava site and witnessed muddy water, water overflowing silt barriers and stormwater detention ponds at or near overflow capacity.

“There was one homeowner who allowed us to view Johnson Creek from his property and he had a place where the Middle Fork of Johnson meets the North Fork (into which Olhava’s stormwater system drains) and you could tell the difference, one was clean and one was muddy,” Anderson commented.

But silty water may not be a sign of improperly-functioning systems, Kasiniak said. He, too, was personally on the site both last week and this week. He said he felt there was room for improvement, but all in all the system handled the event.

“We walked the downstream channels for pond No. 1 to Finn Hill yesterday and we didn’t find any signs of erosion on the channel or deposits on the channel,” Kasiniak explained. “All the ponds held pretty well, as far as we could tell, they were below the overflow mark.”

“Everything was pretty muddy on Monday,” added Poulsbo Public Works Superintendent Bill Duffy on complaints of muddy water.

Another unfortunate part about the recent rains were that they followed an unusually dry summer, Kasiniak added. Olhava Associates hired Northwest Erosion Incorporated to handle erosion control for the large site, however, hydroseeding was attempted on the site twice over the summer and failed both times.

Had the seeds taken root, they may have minimized runoff into Johnson Creek.

“It is construction related no doubt, we definitely shouldn’t have that in the future,” Kasiniak commented.

Regardless, Anderson and fellow appellants Richard Boughner and Joan Hett continue their appeals against Olhava.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively set for February and Anderson said he believed pictures of the silt in Johnson Creek this week would become one of their exhibits to indicate an incorrectly-functioning stormwater system at Olhava. He said they’ll continue to watch Johnson Creek as time goes on.

“We need to know the quality of water and the quantity of water in that stream. We really ought to have a handle on that,” Anderson said.

City crews, too, will continue to monitor the Olhava site’s discharge. Kasiniak said crews take measurements at the site’s ponds every week and during any rain event.

“We send the information to Parametrix and then they process it to find out whether (the ponds are) working the way they’re supposed to or not,” he explained.