Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2003)
8 OCTOBER 1, 2003 SMOKE SIGNALS 2003 WATER FEATURE Regional Supply Efforts Continue With an Eye Toward the Future j In the longer term, communities may well turn to regional water sources to meet future growth needs in the area, said Tribal En gineer Eric Scott. Potential dam projects have been suggested, along with tapping the Willamette River as the city of Wilsonville has done. The Polk County Regional Water Study group is today funding the leading study for developing a re gional supply. The group's techni cal advisory committee includes 15 different water providers, including the Tribes, as well as a representa tive from Oregon Water Resources Department. As it continues to evaluate the opportunities for re gional water supplies, said Scott, three proposals are getting the most active consideration. 1) Among these, Scott counts the upper reaches of Willamina Creek, which the city of Sheridan hopes to funnel into a large storage reser voir with new water transmission mains and a water treatment plant expansion in the years ahead. Sheridan has mounted short- and medium-term plans for the Stoney Mountain reservoir, but for real re gional viability, the upper Willamina Creek reservoir holds the most promise, according to Scott. The Tribe has agreed to invest up to $50,000 as part of the cost of a feasibility study. Development of this site will not be without difficulties however. "There are a lot of land-use and en vironmental issues and a lot of plan ning and design work to be done before we can rely on it," said Scott. Potential water for the Tribes: As much as needed. Timeline: 10-15 years to develop the project. Cost of the project: tens of millions of dollars. 2) The City of Adair Village has water rights to 82 cubic feet per sec ond of which Polk County is seek ing to secure 50 cubic feet per sec ond as a regional source. That translates into more than 22,000 gallons per minute, truly a regional source of water. By comparison, consider that the casino's average use is 70 gallons per minute. The Tribes, along with other po tential users, are reserving the Adair water rights over the next three years until a master plan can be fully developed. The Tribes' por tion of that effort is $3,513 a year. Potential water for the Tribes: As much as needed. Timeline: 10 years to develop. Cost of the project: several million dollars. 3) The Setneker well field in In dependence is currently being stud ied, but not enough is yet known to con sider it a possible regional source. The Tribes are seeking addi tional funds from the federal Bu reau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to study the environmental and legal requirements for supplying water to the cities and outlying areas of Polk County. One possibility is to develop a re gional water authority that would share water among (municipal and other water) providers. Every scenario faces likely oppo sition. "Environmentalists don't want to have water taken out of the rivers," said Scott. "Down slope resi dents don't want a dam built in their water sheds, and providers are reluctant to share dissimilar sources of water." Regional initiatives take other forms, too. The effort is not all about water supply for the local communities. Through the Yamhill Basin Council, a consortium with 36 stakeholders, including the Con federated Tribes of Grand Ronde, efforts are moving forward to clean up regional water bodies, to repair vegetation along the rivers' edges (which give rivers shade and keep the water temperature down along stretches of the rivers where fish might congregate), and to educate current and future generations about the harm done by fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and car care liquids that ultimately end up in our waterways. Storm drain markers indicate other places where we ought to watch what we dump because all these drains ultimately empty into waterways. The need for such activities is un derscored by a study commissioned by former President Clinton, which said that there may not be a single river or stream in the country that is free of chemical contamination. One fifth of animal species and one-sixth of plant types may be at risk of ex tinction, the report from the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Eco nomics and the Environment said. Areas close to home the Kla math Basin, for example face cri ses year after year just to keep both fish alive and farmers productive (See related story on page 3). The regional water supply, the silver bullet of solutions not just here in the Valley, but in Portland, across the country, and around the world, often turns into an elusive dream that has been tried and abandoned time and again. One of the reasons that a regional source is so attractive is that once developed, it would likely be more reliable in the long term than small systems serving communities inde pendently. The costs for securing easements, negotiating environmental issues, and ultimately building dams (where necessary) and pipelines connecting the water from many sources to the participants are likely to be expensive, but as Scott said, in doing a cost-benefit analy sis, the Tribes are not just consid ering revenue, but the benefit to families and the Tribal community. Here on the south fork of the Yamhill River, the Polk County ef fort is the third round of such re gional efforts. A 1992 Bureau of Rec lamation study for Polk and Yamhill counties died almost immediately after the study's recommendations were issued, according to Gene Clemens, Polk County Development Director. The proposal foundered on cost and fish passage issues. "We would have had to build a dam more than twice the size the communities needed in order to pre serve fish runs," he said. The area will probably end up settling for less than a regional fa cility, according to Karl Ekstrom, Manager of the Grand Ronde Com munity Water District (GRCWA). "Eventually there will be some inter-ties but I don't see a regional solution. (If there is,) it will be a federal project. It will take some thing like the Bureau of Reclama tion to get it going." Nevertheless, it is a solution that the city of Portland continues to consider to consolidate the drinking water supply for the cities of Port land, Gresham, Tigard, Beaverton, and water districts such as Rock Creek and Tualatin Valley. It is a solution about to be consid ered at both the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa and at the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan next March. Ml"" 'fit. 4 lit i- jTf Ul " t.-Jfc'-3" i' ; . - j,? - , r jr. -As. v:4s r-Au
