OCTOBER 1, 2003
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Tribal development has been delayed and put on hold while the Tribe does the wate
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Too Small The Grand Ronde Community Water Association was never big enough to take on the water needs of the Tribes'
successes: a government with half a dozen agencies, more than 300 employees, three housing developments, the Spirit Mountain
Casino and Lodge with its 1,500 employees and thousands of guests per day. As Tribal endeavors expand, including the convenience
store, RV facilities and car wash going up in the background, a significant effort was required from the Tribe to keep the water flowing.
n the last few years, after a
decade of continual Tribal de
velopment, the Grand Ronde
community appeared to be
running out of water.
The number of projects the Tribes
had proposed for development
slowed. Those underway were de
layed by six months and up to a
year, according to Duane Hussey,
Development and Construction Co
ordinator for the Tribes' Housing
Authority.
"We haven't even been bringing
projects to the board," said former
Casino and Lodge General Man
ager Mark Holland before all the
pieces of the current water plan
were in place, "because we know we
can't do any development."
A scarcity of guest rooms meant
that the Spirit Mountain Lodge was
turning away customers enough to
fill 1,200-2,200 rooms a month, said
Holland. While committees had
looked at the feasibility of adding
100 rooms, a convention center, and
a swimming pool to the facility,
Holland knew that without addi
tional sources of water, nothing
would be built.
At the same time, the non-Tribal
community was having its own
problems. In the early 1990s, ac
cording to Karl Ekstrom, Manager
of the Grand Ronde Community
Water Association (GRCWA), new
hookups along an area of Highway
22 were held up for 2 to 4 years
while the association built a 50,000
gallon storage system. According
to Ekstrom, the water system had
been accepting new hookups on a
case-by-case basis.
"Anything over a single family
house goes through our attorney
and board of directors," said
Ekstrom at the time.
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Investment The pipes above hardly show the extent of the Tribes' $1.65 million water treatment plant
that will soon free up three million gallons per month for community uses. This project is an example of how
the Tribes have also been a good neighbor.
The Tribes' development effort
began in 1992 when GRCWA held
and maintained about 350,000 gal
lons worth of storage space. That
same year, the Tribes opened the
main Community Center. In 1995,
the Tribes opened the Spirit Moun
tain Casino; in 1996, the Grand
Meadows manufactured home
park; in 1997, the Health and
Wellness Center; in 1998, the Gov
ernance Center, the Spirit Moun
tain Lodge and the third phase ex
pansion of the casino; in 2000, Hip
Tilixam, the first phase of a three
part Elder Housing project; in
2002, the Education center; and in
2003, Chxi Musam Illihi, the new
low-income rental housing devel
opment. "It was pretty clear (as early as
1997) that the demand was putting
a strain on the available resource,"
said Tribal Engineer Eric Scott.
"That really began
close scrutiny by the
water association of
any additional uses."
By 2000, when El
der Housing came
on line, "We were
consulting with the
Grand Ronde Com
munity Water Asso
ciation on a monthly
basis to try to find
ways to reduce de
mand and to identify
alternative sources,"
said Scott.
Neither the Tribes
nor the community
water system were
standing still while
all this development
was moving for
ward. As early as 1993,
development of the
casino promised to
consume about 25
percent of the area's
' - "
supply. "Planning (for the
community's 500,000-gallon stor
age tank) began when we first
learned that the casino would be
built," said Ekstrom.
Along with the community's in
creased storage, the Tribes also
planned a 500,000-gallon tank,
which ended up being finished
first, in 1995, a year before the
community's tank started taking in
water.
"The pre-eminent need was fire
protection," said Ekstrom. The
Tribes' facility was in a better place
to fight fires, and the builder for
both tanks were the same, so the
Tribe's storage tank was built first,
he said.
In 1996, the Tribes constructed
a 12-inch water main to serve the
Grand Ronde Road corridor, in
cluding new and planned Tribal fa
cilities. In 2000, Scott began to focus on
water rights issues. In a process
that took three years to fully real-