REGION
Saturday, October 1, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
MILTON-FREEWATER
‘Hard choices’ ahead as groundwater levels declining
Agency recommends
mandatory metering
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Faced with declining ground-
water levels across the Walla
Walla subbasin, the Oregon Water
Resources Department is looking
to convene a local Resource Advi-
sory Committee to ind solutions
for stabilizing aquifers.
The department laid out a
number of options during two
public meetings Thursday and
Friday
in
Milton-Freewater,
ranging from mandatory water
metering to designating a Critical
Groundwater Area, specifying how
much water can be used within the
boundaries.
About 40 people attended
Friday’s meeting at the Milton-Free-
water Community Building, where
Ivan Gall, administrator of the
OWRD Field Services Division,
called on a major groundswell
of support and backing in order
to make the groundwater system
work.
“Folks have got to be willing
to make some hard choices,” Gall
said.
Ideally, Gall said the committee
would include representatives from
a variety of backgrounds, including
city oficials, large farms, small
farms, tribes and the Walla Walla
Basin Watershed Council. The goal
is to have rule changes developed
and ready to present to the state
Water Resources Commission by
May 2017.
“We want to get these rules
prepared, and go through the
process,” Gall said.
Data from the Water Resources
Department shows one sedimentary
well in the Walla Walla subbasin
has declined 15 feet over the past
80 years, and water levels are
now declining basin-wide at rates
ranging from 2-4 feet per year.
Hydrogeologist Jen Woody
spent the irst half of the meeting
explaining the basics of the region’s
basalt aquifers, and how ground-
water levels can change over time.
“We know that use is exceeding
recharge,” Woody said.
To better quantify recharge, the
department is proposing to establish
what’s known as a Serious Water
Management Problem Area. That
would put a halt to issuing new
groundwater permits in the area,
and require meters be installed with
regular readings.
Gall said the designation
wouldn’t change how the subbasin
is managed now, but would
memorialize the current practices
under law. The Water Resources
Commission would irst have to
conduct a public hearing before
declaring a Serious Water Manage-
ment Problem Area.
“This whole thing is about data
collection,” Gall said. “We need
PENDLETON
Council to consider ining old
city hall owner for lack of repairs
East Oregonian
The Pendleton City Council will act as both
judge and jury in the case of the old city hall.
City Manager Robb Corbett wrote a letter
to old city hall owner Jose Quezada Sept. 23
informing him that his building was in viola-
tion of the nuisance ordinance because it had
not been repaired within a year of it catching
ire after a July explosion.
Quezada was given the option of either
making the necessary repairs within ive days
or appealing the city’s decision to the council.
Quezada and his family decided to ile an
appeal, which will be heard by the council at
a meeting Tuesday.
The Quezadas could face stiff penalties if
Corbett’s decision stands — a ine of up to $500
for every day old city hall isn’t in compliance
or an abatement initiated by the city that would
charge the Quezadas for the cost of repairs plus
a 10 percent administrative overhead fee.
Corbett said which route the city takes is
based on the council’s decision and whether
their swayed by the Quezadas’ arguments.
City council gets another go
at gravel path decision
Given more time to walk the area where
a proposed gravel path that would replace
the closed Southwest 13th Street stairs, the
Pendleton City Council will take another
crack at approving the idea at a meeting
Tuesday.
The council tabled the proposal at their
last meeting, where several residents who
live in the area said the path would be too
steep for children navigating the bluff as they
go to and from the bus stop at the Pendleton
Early Learning Center.
Under city staff’s proposal, the path would
be 335 feet long with a 16 percent slope.
There is no current cost estimate for the
path, but the council is also considering
adding a handrail, paving the path and
demolishing the old staircase, which isn’t
structurally sound.
The council will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m.
at the council chambers in city hall, 500 S.W.
Dorion Ave.
this data to manage the system.”
State law also allows the Water
Resources Commission to formally
withdraw unappropriated waters
from further development — as
was done in the Pomonoa and
Priest Rapids basalt aquifers near
Mosier in 1988. And then, there is
the designation of a critical ground-
water area, such as the Ordnance
Basalt, Ordnance Gravel, Butter
Creek and Stage Gulch areas near
Boardman and Hermiston.
Those areas have curtailed
nearly two-thirds of their water
rights, yet Gall said groundwater
levels are still declining at a
reduced rate.
“Those folks have been
searching for 20 years for alterna-
tive water supplies,” he said. “It
was a signiicant impact.”
What Gall said he would like
to see is voluntary agreements
come out of the Resource Advisory
Committee that would empower
local users to be part of the solu-
tion. Examples might include farms
switching to less water-intensive
crops, fallowing land or improving
irrigation eficiency.
But, in order for that to happen,
Gall said any agreements need to
have broad backing and support.
He said the department will
continue to have a series of meet-
ings with residents and water users
in Milton-Freewater, including two
more meetings at the Community
Building scheduled for Oct. 24 and
25.
Tom Byler, director of the
OWRD, said it is the department’s
ultimate responsibility to manage
groundwater for the good of the
overall public.
“We have a charge to help
communities get on a more
sustainable path with regards to
groundwater,” Byler said.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0825.
Sand Station Area closes to
overnight camping Saturday
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
On Saturday, Sand Station Recreation
Area will close to overnight camping until
further notice.
Bruce Henrickson, public affairs specialist
for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the
recreation area off Highway 730 about 10
miles east of Umatilla will still be open to day
use. Closure of the camping area is necessary,
however, to redesign the RV camping area
and restore or remove campsites that have
eroded.
“It will remain closed until further notice
because we don’t know how long the work
will take,” he said.
Henrickson said waves from the river have
severely eroded the camping spots closest
to the beach in recent years. Staff will try to
restore as many as possible but may have to
remove some.
He said Corps staff will perform the work
themselves because of reduced federal recre-
ation budgets, which have forced the Corps
to shorten recreation seasons and cut services.
He said they saved the work for the off-season
to minimize the impact on the public.
Michael Nathan said he and his family
have been living at Sand Station, along with
four other homeless families. He said notices
about the Oct. 1 closure had been posted at his
campground and on Friday someone came to
speak to them in person.
He said the closure essentially puts those
families out of a home, forcing them to ind
somewhere else to park the vehicle they live
in during the winter months. Two families
have already left, he said, and he and his wife
are assisting the other two in moving their
belongings to a new location since they do
not have a car.
“We all go through the same thing
together,” he said.
Henrickson said the Corps was aware that
there were homeless families that frequently
camped at Sand Station, and they would
be able to do so again once the work was
complete. Camping is allowed at the site for
up to seven days at a time.
But he said for safety reasons the Corps
could not allow overnight camping there
during the construction period.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@
eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.
BRIEFLY
Heppner man killed in
crash on Highway 207
A 63-year-old Heppner man died in a
head-on crash Friday morning after a potato
truck crossed in front of his vehicle on
Highway 207.
Mervin Grubaugh was driving north on the
highway in a 1996 Subaru Legacy about nine
miles south of Hermiston and Maria Bautista
Lucas, 60, from Yakima was heading south in
a 1996 Mack truck.
Lucas turned left at the Echo Highway
turnoff, according to Oregon State Police,
crashing nearly head-on into the Subaru at
highway speeds. Grubaugh died at the scene
and Lucas was taken to Good Shepherd
Medical Center in Hermiston where she was
treated and released.
The crash took place near the intersection
at mile marker 27B at about 7:45 a.m. and the
highway was closed for about ive hours while
investigators reconstructed the crash scene.
OSP was assisted by Hermiston Fire and
Ambulance, Echo Fire and Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation. The investigation is
ongoing and more information will be released
when available, according to OSP.
FFA food drive runs
through October
PENDLETON — Oregon FFA, Les
Schwab Tires and the Capital Press are
teaming up to help Drive Away Hunger
with a statewide food drive through the
month of October.
According to a press release from the FFA,
the Oregon Food Bank has seen demand for
emergency food boxes increase by 40 percent
since 2008.
To help keep the food bank full, brown
paper bags are being distributed, including in
today’s East Oregonian, and can be dropped
off at any Les Schwab Tire Center or FFA
Center.
The 2015 initiative raised more than
633,000 pounds of food, according to the press
release, enough to provide 528,227 meals.
There are nearly 6,000 FFA members from
103 FFA chapters in the state.
Fire detected near Olive Lake
A small wildire is burning on the Umatilla
National Forest several miles southwest of
Olive Lake.
Andrew Stinchield, ire management
oficer for the North Fork John Day Ranger
District, said the 1-acre blaze is located in a
remote area of the Vinegar Hill-Indian Rock
Scenic Area. No structures or private land are
threatened. The cause of the ire is unknown.
Due to the rugged terrain, predicted rainfall
and cold weather in the forecast, ireighters
will not attack the ire directly in order to keep
them safe.
The ire will be visible from Forest Road 10
and other vantage points within the forest. No
forest closures will be implemented, though
hunters and hikers should be cautious when
entering the area — particularly along the Blue
Mountain Trail 6141.
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Williams to lead EO advertising department
East Oregonian
for the EO Media Group since
2004, and has been a publisher
since 2009. She is currently the
Marissa Williams has been
treasurer of Oregon Newspaper
named Regional Advertising
Publishers Association.
Director for EO Media Group’s
Editor & Publisher, a monthly
publications in Eastern Oregon.
magazine covering the news
Williams will manage adver-
industry, picked Williams as one
tising for the East Oregonian,
of its “25 under 35” in 2011, an
Hermiston Herald, Eastern
annual feature that highlights
Oregon Real Estate & Home-
the best young innovators in the
builders Guide, Eastern Oregon Williams
business. That was the same year
Marketplace and Eastern Oregon
Parent publications. She will continue as the Blue Mountain Eagle under Williams’
publisher of the Blue Mountain Eagle in leadership was nominated for a Pulitzer
John Day and Wallowa County Chieftain Prize for its coverage of the Aryan Nation
in Enterprise. She will divide her time white supremacist group planning to move
its headquarters to John Day.
between these locations.
Williams and her husband, Zach, coach
She was born and raised in Grant County
and her family owns the Broken Leg Ranch youth sports including softball and volley-
near Monument, where she learned to ride ball.
“I’m looking forward to working with the
horses. At Grant Union High School she
qualiied for the National High School staff at the East Oregonian and Hermiston
Herald, the community and businesses,”
Rodeo inals in team roping.
She and her husband, Zach, have three Marissa said. “I am honored to be a part of a
children and spend much of their free time team that strives every day to help meet the
needs of our customers through effective
coaching youth softball and volleyball.
Williams has worked in Eastern Oregon advertising plans in our many products.”
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applies October 3-14, 2016 at all AAA Travel locations in Oregon and the Southern 34 counties of Idaho.