4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
FROM
RIVER
TO TAP IN
SEASIDE
Photos by R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Headwaters of the Necanicum, where water is diverted for Seaside’s water supply.
U
sually, we don’t think about
it until we lose it. Our most
precious resource was brought
to mind after 200,000 Salem
residents lost fresh water for the month
of June because of a potentially toxic
algae bloom.
The bloom shut
down the Salem water
system and led to the
delivery of bottled water.
It also led to a statewide
review of water systems.
Nearly 100 public
water systems around
R.J. MARX Oregon began testing for
harmful contaminants
from algae blooms under rules unveiled
by the Oregon Health Authority on July
1, said Dave Emme, environmental public
health section manager.
While the state monitors 3,000 water
systems, the Health Authority chose only
200 or 300 that use surface water, and of
those, narrowed it down to about 100 sys-
tems — including Seaside — that would
be potentially susceptible to algal blooms.
Under the new rules, those water sys-
tems are required to collect samples of
the raw water flowing into their treatment
facilities every other week and continue
testing through October.
Seaside was named to the list because
of a mid-July 2009 incident that led the
city to send out a notice of “unusually
high algae growth in the raw water reser-
voir at Peterson Point” after identifying
a blue-green algae called anabaena that
could produce cyanotoxins, Emme said.
The city determined the water supply
was back on track the next month.
Seaside already tests for coliform and
any other potential contaminants.
If the biweekly tests turn up cyano-
toxins above a certain threshold, the city
will be required to conduct weekly tests.
Water providers would be required to
issue “do not drink” advisories if toxins
are detected above health guidelines in
treated water.
H2O in Seaside
Water department utility worker Kevin
Nagle introduced me to the system with a
tour of the city’s reservoir and source.
I rode shotgun as Nagle took me up
Underhill Road, where you first see the
pump station on the road leading up to the
Peterson Point reservoir, named for the
nearby portion of U.S. Highway 101.
One of seven pump stations, this one
feeds treated water to residents of High-
ing system is comprised of 43.4 miles of
water main of materials from 2 inches to
2 feet in diameter.
Layers of anthracite both air- and
water-clean the filters every three hours
in a process called “a rinse,” Nagle said,
removing unwanted chemicals. Water
from the rinse goes into a waste pond, not
the water supply.
A backwash cleans the filters once a
day.
Back to the source
Fish diversion at the system’s headwaters.
LEFT: Kevin Nagle inside the diversion building. RIGHT: Seaside’s reservoir at
Peterson Point.
way 26.
Up a steep side spur, the reservoir
stands as a glittering pond of fresh water,
a picture postcard of Seaside’s infrastruc-
ture. The reservoir is cleaned by a Solar-
Bee — basically a solar-powered paddle
wheel that stirs the water and discourages
the creation of algae.
Farther up the road, adjacent to the
water treatment plant, stands an unassum-
ing brick building with a blue metal roof.
Visitors enter by a double door, next to
the sign reading “RESTRICTED AREA:
Get permission before entering.”
The room smells like a big swimming
pool, which in a sense it is, with big con-
crete ponds holding water as it is clarified.
In a computer room, monitors present
data on filters, generators, chlorine feeds
and flow trends — “the brains of the sys-
tem,” Nagle said.
The processor provides live mea-
surements monitoring multiple aspects
of the process: 1,936 gallons per min-
ute flowed while I was there. The res-
ervoir level stood at 186 feet the day I
was there, water temperature at a little
above 20 degrees Celsius, or 68 degrees
Fahrenheit.
The main area of the water treatment
plant consists of what looks like a giant
swimming pool, accessible by a metal
staircase to a second level. Lights over-
head illuminate a series of concrete pools
with multiple layers of sand and rock.
Chlorine and a small amount of fluoride
are added before water is sent to a filter-
ing tank.
The filtered water must sit for a cer-
tain amount of time before it enters the
system and much of the chlorine “cooks
off” before it is sent to the city. The pip-
Our next stop was the water intake
source at the headwater diversion site at
the South Fork of the Necanicum River,
where fresh water is diverted to feed into
the Peterson Point reservoir.
In a pristine setting with a lack of
development, agriculture or septic sys-
tems around it, “It’s Mother Nature at
her best,” Public Works Director Dale
McDowell commented as he introduced
the city’s Source Water Protection Plan at
a City Council meeting in July.
Neighboring landowners Lewis &
Clark and Weyerhaeuser have “stringent
rules for their own property,” McDowell
said. “Everybody is working together to
protect the city.”
The city has owned water rights since
the 1920s, providing 8.0 cubic feet of
water per second or 5.2 million gallons
per day.
To get there, Nagle drove to a logging
road turn-off another seven or eight miles
up Highway 26.
After entering a series of locked gates
— squatters sometimes camp in the
nearby woods, Nagle said — we arrived
at the headwaters where the water split.
The headwaters of the Necanicum are
a lonely, beautiful place, the river abun-
dant with fall chinook, Oregon Coast
coho, chum and winter steelhead.
During spawning season, the fish are
jumping. “There are some huge things,”
Nagle noted.
Along with separating leaves, sticks
and stone before the water is piped down-
hill, the small diversion house — looks a
bit like an Irish cottage — includes a fish
bypass. Debris is manually removed by
water department workers.
The trip ended back where we started,
at the Public Works building on Avenue
U.
I got out realizing I would never look
at a glass of water the same way.
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South
County reporter and editor of the Seaside
Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.
LEFT: Kevin Nagle at a pump station on Beerman Creek Road. It provides water for residents of Highway 26. MIDDLE: Inside the city’s water filtration plant.
RIGHT: Nagle monitors the system at Seaside’s water filtration plant.