Page 10
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Jamboree
Day
Water: ideas to reduce waste
Water was a main
theme at the Family
Jamboree Day. The goal
was to keep cool while
having fun. At right, the
Octopus water tunnel;
and below, the water
slide. The day was
hosted by Warm
Springs Recreation.
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Beware of
disruptive
email virus
The Warm Springs
Office of Information
Systems reminds com-
puter users to beware
any email from a
sender that you do not
recognize.
If it comes from an
address that you are
not familiar with, or a
subject line that refers
to something you don’t
know about, do not
open the email.
A recent bout with
computer viruses has
been going around, and
can really disrupt com-
puter use. If you have
any questions, call 541-
553-3275.
August 20, 2014
Around Indian Country
Yakama casino expansion
The Yakama Nation hopes
a $90 million expansion will
draw more visitors to its ca-
sino in Washington.
The centerpiece of the
project is a 200-room, six-
story hotel. Executives be-
lieve it will help turn the
Yakama Legends Casino
into a destination to its re-
gion of the state, where no
other tribal facilities are lo-
cated.
“We want to go from local
gaming venue to a regional
resort,” said assistant general
manager Kristin Lumley.
“We want to add to the
tourism draw of the region.”
After a series of delays,
the tribe finally started con-
struction on the project. It's
expected to be finished by the
end of 2016.
(Continued from page 1)
There are a number of as-
pects to this problem.
First, the treatment plant
is getting old. Replacement
parts are now difficult, or im-
possible to come by. Some of
the monitoring equipment is
not working; so the workers
have to check the system
manually, the way they did
some years.
Courtney says the tribes re-
ally need a new water plant,
based on the current usage.
Meanwhile, the population
continues to grow, and new
housing will be coming on
line next year.
The tribes spend close to
$1 million each year from the
general fund on the water
system. This funding mainly
goes toward operation. Capi-
tal improvements—even re-
placing essential parts—is
next to impossible with this
budget, said Roy Spino, tribal
water/wastewater engineer.
Clearly, something should
be done, and sooner rather
than later.
A recent report—the Stra-
tegic Infrastructure Improve-
ment Plan—evaluates the
condition of the infrastruc-
ture on the reservation: the
water and wastewater plants,
roads, solid waste facilities,
power and communications.
Among the different utili-
ties, “Water is the single most
troubled when it comes to fi-
nancing capital improve-
ments due mainly to excessive
water usage,” the report says.
Another observation in
the report: “If the Confed-
erated Tribes eliminated most
of the wasted water usage by
all customers, it could save
millions of dollars in capital
improvements.”
Most of the residences in
the Warm Springs area have
Now Serving All the Reservation
Warm Springs
Seekseequa
4202
Holliday St.
Simnasho
Schoolie Flat
no water meters. Some
houses do have meters, such
as at Greeley Heights, but no
one reads these meters, be-
cause there is no reason to.
Except for businesses, en-
terprises and the new school,
customers of the water sys-
tem pay no fee. So there is
no incentive to conserve.
A comparison will give an
idea of the amount of waste
in the Warm Springs water
system:
The Deschutes Valley Wa-
ter District ser ves about
12,000 people. The most wa-
ter ever delivered by that dis-
trict in one day was 8.1 mil-
lion gallons.
The Warm Springs system,
serving about 3,600 people,
delivered almost 4.3 million
gallons in one day. That is
more than half the Deschutes
Valley Water District number,
while Warm Springs is serv-
ing less than one-third the
number of people.
The amount of delivered
water unaccounted for in the
Deschutes Valley system is
about 8 percent. Based on
the above comparison, the
percentage must be much
higher for Warm Springs.
The question, then, is what
could be done to correct this
situation? The Strategic Infra-
structure Improvement Plan
makes the observation:
2321
Ollallie
Lane
Warm
Springs
Call 541-
615-0555
Call 541-
553-1182
“The most universal and
proven method of controlling
waste is to impose water rates
on all customers, which
would not only produce rev-
enue, but also would affect
the behavior of users. Water
conservation would be re-
warded with a lower water
bill.”
The specific recommenda-
tion in the plan is as follows:
“Impose water rates on all
customers, meter all custom-
ers, including housing units on
water systems. Initiate a bill-
ing procedure and set up an
enforcement procedure for
delinquent accounts.”
This would be a major
change, and customers would
understandably be against see-
ing another monthly bill, es-
pecially in these economic
times on the reservation.
But there are options.
There could be exemptions
for those who truly cannot
afford another bill. There
could be a rate of zero or
close to zero for households
that are using an average
amount of water.
An actual charge would
only apply to households that
are using much more than the
average amount of water.
Tribal Council was planning
to meet with tribal planner
Lonny Macy, Spino and oth-
ers this week on the matter.