MARYSVILLE – Former Tulalip Tribes Chairman Herman Williams Jr. still remembers the day in 2003 when the tides turned in negotiations with Everett officials over decades of contentious issues pitting dam building against salmon habitat.

The tribes didn’t have enough water – “too many straws in the ground” – for their business park plans, as they were trying not to impact water volume at their fish hatchery. Sitting in another one of many meetings, Mayor Ray Stephanson tapped Williams on the shoulder and said, “Let’s take a walk.”

The two left the room. Williams said he recalls Stephanson saying: “We’re all good people… Let’s take a leap of faith, and trust in each other that we’re all going to do the right thing.”

Williams said they found out they had much in common, and shared the same goals to better their people.

“He wasn’t much different than me,” Williams said. “We trusted each other to do what was right..and it worked. We sat down as human beings, and out of these talks came the water line.”

Tribal leaders Stan Jones Sr. and Williams, along with Stephenson, formed an alliance that helped build a $64 million water pipeline from Everett to Tulalip. The pipeline, which took seven years to build, will bring 30 million gallons of water a day to the reservation for generations to come.

A few hundred people gathered April 28 at Tulalip to celebrate, “The Big Water.”

Tulalip Chairwoman Marie Zackuse called it a milestone in the “People of the Salmon’s” history.

“We have secured water for our people and our way of life for the next hundred years,” Zackuse said. “Completion of ‘Big Water’ means Tulalip now has enough water for our people, our salmon and our future.”

Ten government and tribal leader turned on gold-colored spigots and sipped from commemorative wooden ladles made by carvers and artistsin the shape of a canoe.

The 36-inch water pipeline is in part the result of legal disputes over salmon habitat that saw massive decline over decades after construction of the Sultan River Dam made miles of the upper Sultan River inaccessible to spawning fish. In 1916, Everett began building dams on the river and created Spada Reservoir for storage, which provides water for 75 percent of Snohomish County and hydroelectric power for PUD customers. The most recent dam, Culmback Dam, was built in 1965.

The tribes in 2001 filed a $37 million claim against the city, saying damming the river seriously impacted salmon runs. During negotiations, Everett agreed to pay $5 million to help fund the pipeline.

At the dedication, Stephanson said his father, who died last year, used to tell him about the injustices committed against Native Americans.

“I never really thought in my lifetime that I would have the opportunity to right a wrong, Stephanson, adding, “What this project was about, more than anything, was trust.”

For Terry Williams, the tribes’ Fisheries and Natural Resources commissioner for 35 years, the celebration was monumental, adding he was suprised at how well it was accepted.

Tribal Vice Chairwoman Teri Gobin addressed the project’s economic benefits over the past several years that came in the form of work for local contractors and jobs creation. Having its own robust water resource will enable the tribes to continue to build houses for members, foster ecoonomc development, help businesses grow and get more tribal members into construction fields so they can become business owners.

Herman Williams said he never thought the day would come. With the public water fiasco in Flint, Mich., protests to stop the proposed Dakota Access underground oil pipeline in North Dakota and the previous worst-ever drought conditions in California, he had doubts.

Williams said this emphasizes just how important a commodity water is, and why it is “very, very sacred” to the Tulalips.

“I’m just tickled pink we get to turn the faucets on today,” he said.

The good-faith efforts of the city on this project have done much to heal old wounds, former Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon has said.

He added that Everett respected the Tulalip’s sovereignty.“It’s nothing to fear; they embraced it, and we worked together,” Sheldon said.