A12 The SpokeSman • TueSday, auguST 9, 2022
AGRICULTURE
Countdown starts for irrigation district to
identify route for Pilot Butte Canal pipe
BY MICHAEL KOHN
CO Media Group
The countdown has begun for res-
idents of northeast Bend to learn the
future route of the Pilot Butte piping
project, a plan that will end more than
a century of use for the canal that runs
through the area.
In the third quarter of 2023, Central
Oregon Irrigation District will iden-
tify a preferred route for its proposed
piping project, said ShanRae Hawkins,
a spokesperson for the district. The
piping route is to be included with the
project’s draft environmental impact
statement.
One option includes piping along
the existing canal and two other op-
tions have the pipe buried underneath
city streets.
The irrigation district uses the canal
to convey water from the Deschutes
River to farms and ranches on the High
Desert. In Bend, the canal also forms
a bucolic backdrop to more than 100
homes in the northeast part of town. If
the district moves ahead with its plans
to pipe, the canal will still be a backyard
feature, albeit one without water.
Conveying water through canals is
considered outdated due to the po-
rous nature of their rocky bottom. The
leaky Pilot Butte Canal experiences
156 cubic feet per second of water loss.
Switching to pipes allows the district
to conserve water for both farmers and
the river.
One of the street options has the
pipe traveling north along 18th Street,
starting where it intersects with Yeo-
man Road, and then east along Cooley
Road. That route is approximately 1.9
miles in length. Selecting this route
would require a portion of 18th Street
to be opened up so the pipe could be
Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file
A portion of the Pilot Butte Canal.
buried before the road is restored.
A second route sees the pipe going
north along Old Deschutes Road from
Yeoman Road, and then east on Cooley
Road, a route of approximately 1.4
miles. This route also requires some of
Old Deschutes Road to be excavated so
the pipe can be buried.
There is also a “no action” alternative
that retains the current situation of wa-
ter flowing through the open canal.
The final option has the pipe follow-
ing the current canal route. This op-
tion must comply with a 2016 decision
that placed a 1.5-mile section of the
canal in Bend on the National Regis-
ter of Historic Places. The placement
was made at the request of local resi-
dents, many of whom have homes that
back up to the canal, which was built
in 1905.
The historic designation requires
that the “historic integrity” of the ca-
nal be protected, but it does not require
that water actually flow through the
canal.
“This is the scoping period, so we
don’t know how we will handle the his-
toric section,” said Craig Horrell, the
district manager for Central Oregon
Irrigation District. “That is the process,
to figure out what we can and can’t do.
Two more cases of bird flu
confirmed in Central Oregon
Cases found in non-
commercial backyard
flocks bringing total
case count to 6
BY SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
USDA’s Animal Plant
Health Inspection Service
has confirmed cases of highly
pathogenic avian influenza,
also known as HPAI, in two
non-commercial backyard
flocks in Central Oregon’s De-
schutes County.
According to officials, each
property had 70 to 80 birds —
a mix of chickens, ducks and
Pea fowl. All birds at the two
sites were humanely eutha-
nized on July 24, according to
the state Department of Agri-
culture.
Because the flocks’ owners
did not sell eggs or poultry
products commercially, federal
guidelines did not require offi-
cials to expand the existing re-
gional quarantine area.
Deschutes County has now
confirmed six total cases of
Public invited to join
Aug. 17 seminar on water
rights in Central Oregon
Spokesman staff report
As water becomes scarcer in
Central Oregon — and debate
rages over how to conserve wa-
ter and share it among a vari-
ety of stakeholders — the De-
schutes River Conservancy is
taking a closer look at some of
the more divisive issues with a
new, year-long series of public
seminars.
The conservancy’s series of
free monthly seminars, Raise the
Deschutes, is designed to help
educate the public about water
management in Central Oregon.
The series provides opportuni-
ties for the public to engage with
water experts who will discuss
water supply, river hydrology,
climate change, canal piping,
and water conservation options.
The next seminar, scheduled
for Aug. 17, is titled Whose Wa-
ter is it Anyway? Water Rights
101 and will focus on water
rights in the Deschutes Basin.
The seminar will be held in
person between 6-8 p.m. at the
Open Space Event Studios at
220 NE Lafayette Ave. in Bend.
Sierra dawn mcClain/Capital press File
Two more cases of bird flu have been found in Deschutes County, Ore.
HPAI. State veterinarian Ryan
Scholz said he expects more
cases to pop up statewide mov-
ing closer to the fall, when wild
birds begin their winter mi-
gration.
The state Department of
Agriculture advises commer-
cial and backyard flock owners
to be vigilant with biosecurity
measures and to prevent con-
tact between wild and domes-
ticated birds whenever pos-
sible.
Starting Aug. 8, the state ag-
riculture department will pro-
vide weekly HPAI summaries
and post all confirmed Oregon
HPAI cases online. Those in-
teresting in tracking the spread
of the bird flu can sign up to re-
ceive email updates from ODA.
According to the U.S. Cen-
ters for Disease Control and
Prevention, the latest strain
of H5N1 bird flu has infected
more than 40 million domes-
ticated poultry in 38 states na-
tionwide, in addition to 1,890
wild birds in 44 states.
We are exploring all the options under
the historic rules and guidelines but if
this option is chosen (the pipe) would
be buried.”
A public comment period about the
various options left a few local residents
frustrated by technical problems asso-
ciated with the submission process.
“The process was not user-friendly,”
said northeast Bend resident Don LeB-
art. “There is no telling how many sub-
missions were not made because peo-
ple became frustrated and gave up.”
The irrigation district said the email
system problems have been resolved
and due to the technical error, the
deadline to submit comments was ex-
tended to Aug. 2. As of Wednesday, the
district had received around 60 com-
ments. Horrell said more periods to
comment will be available within the
next year.
Public comments will be used by the
district as it further develops its draft
environmental impact statement. If the
current schedule can be maintained,
construction of the pipe in Bend will
start in late 2025 and will take six to 12
months to complete, said Hawkins.
The piping project through Bend
is just one part of a larger plan to pipe
the entire Pilot Butte Canal between
Bend and Smith Rock. A 7.9-mile sec-
tion from Redmond to Smith Rock was
completed earlier this year at a cost of
$32 million. That project saves the dis-
trict 30 cubic feet of water per second.
The 21 miles of canal between Bend
to Redmond are expected to cost $250
million to pipe and could be completed
as early as 2028.
Around $188 million of the cost is
expected to be sourced from the Water-
shed Protection and Flood Prevention
Act. The act was originally passed in
1954 to prevent flooding and sedimen-
tation but has been since amended to
address a broad range of natural re-
source and environmental issues, in-
cluding water conservation.
The remaining $62.5 million is to be
sourced from required matching funds.
Sources of funding include the Ore-
gon Legislature and the Special Public
Works Fund program.
People interested in commenting on
the proposed plans can do so until Aug.
2 by emailing the irrigation district at:
EisComments@coid.org.
█
Reporter: 541-617-7818,
mkohn@bendbulletin.com