Smoke signals., April 01, 2004, Page 6, Image 6

Smoke Signals
Water Rights Acquisitions Allow Water Treatment To Aid Expansion
After two months of testing, the new system goes on line.
6 APRIL 1,2004
Show & Tell Water treatment plant operator Robert Jones points to one of the operational screens that control the Tribe 's
new state-of-the-art water plant during a grand opening tour. The new water treatment plant enables the Tribe to go ahead
with expansion of the Spirit Mountain Lodge and future projects.
minute from the South Yamhill River for most
of the year.
The river was so close to being tapped out as
the Tribe acquired these rights that it likely
brought home the last water right that ever will
be granted for the South Yamhill River, accord
ing to Scott.
Design work for the project's lynchpin, the
$1.65 million water treatment plant that keeps
all this water potable, was about seven months
in process. Three phases of construction work
By Ron Karten
On Monday, March 1, the Tribe switched the
casino complex from the community water sys
tem to treated water from the South Yamhill
River. The rollover affected the Spirit Moun
tain Casino, lodge and convenience store, and
except for a few
casino goers who
were directed to
bathroom facilities
at the lodge way
early on the morn
ing of March 2,
when water ser
vice was briefly
interrupted to add
basket strainers to
existing pipes, no
body seemed to
notice.
More than four
years worth of
work went into
development of
the system that fi
nally allows ex
pansion at the ca
sino complex
without jeopardiz
ing growth in the
rest of the Grand
Ronde community, including the Tribal hold
ings along Grand Ronde Road.
The question has been in play since before
the casino opened its doors in 1995, when the
HP ' 1 1 1 ...1 i i 4. i- 1 i L 1
1 ri ue uisu ueytm wiiai tui nt-u uui tu ue uie iai y-
est building effort the area has ever seen.
The Grand Ronde Community Water Asso
ciation (GRCWA) had been stretched to its limit
in recent years, and while new building per
mits were never turned down for lack of water,
according to Grand Ronde Community Water
Association n, . i y
manager Karl t
Ekstrom, some
of the deci
sions were
held up for six
months or a
year, and the
Tribe's big
projects were
carefully con
sidered or de
layed because
of the area's
water short
age. Taking the
casino com
plex off of the
community
system will
cost GRCWA
about $5,000
a month in
revenues, but
i j i
leaves tne sys
tem with
enough water
for the fore
seeable fu
ture, said Ekstrom.
for the community.
revenue, but I'd
the money."
For two years, Tribal Engineer and Project
Manager Eric Scott and Staff Attorney Lisa
Estensen worked through water rights issues,
transferring and buying rights enough to give
the casino complex water for the upcoming lodge
expansion. And it leaves the community sys
tem plenty of supply to fill the water needs of
other community and Tribal projects.
The Tribe converted some irrigation rights to
quasi-municipal use and purchased other irri
gation rights to pour back into the river in sum
mer in exchange for the right to take water out
of the river at other times. In the end, the Tribe
had acquired rights to use up to 230 gallons a
z
asp,.
&V "i?sp .... fh If., sv 1
V'l Sr.-' v r J .-
River Walk Tribal Engineer Eric Scott (fourth from left) stands on the bank of the South Yamhill River and explains where the
treatment plant pulls water from the river at a maximum rate of 230 gallons per minute.
It's going to be a lot better
We're going to lose some
rather have the water than
went on for about 18 months, culminating in
the two-month period from January through the
March 1 rollover when Plant Operator Robert
Jones and his team had the luxury of testing
the system, and experimenting with its differ
ent features "so we have a real good comfort zone
as to how it will work."
Water from the two systems are kept separate,
said Scott. Because the Tribal water system is a
surface source in need of filtration and chlori
nation and the community system uses ground
water that is not chlorinated, mixing the two
water sources might trigger additional treatment
Photos by PetaTinda
requirements for the community, according to
Scott.
Still, the water treatment plant remains con
nected to the community system as an emergency
back-up for fire protection for Tribal buildings
and woodlands
as well as for the
community in
the event of a
catastrophic fail
ure of the com
munity system.
The system
has an 80,000
gallon chlorine
treatment and
storage tank
that includes
42,000 gallons
of "finished wa
ter" storage.
This provides a
backup for peak
water demands
at the casino
and lodge.
Day to day,
two membrane
filters each pro
duce 50 gallons
per minute (gpm) for the system with a 90 gpm
capacity for each. Casino and lodge needs are
currently 100 gpm. And the system has room to
install more such filters should they be needed
in the future.
A sophisticated monitoring system enables
staffers to check nearly every part of the sys
tem, including the height of the river, chlorine
content in the treated water and pressure in the
pipes. The system is even ready for curing wa
ter discoloration in the fall when leaves fall into
the river.
Beyond the
daily consump
tion needs of ca
sino customers,
the project took
into account
other possible
uses for the sys
tem. The casino
complex's land
scaping needs
call for 20,000
gallons a day
during the sum
mer season, for
example, and all
of that comes
from retreated
waste water from
the system.
A drain field
between the
treatment plant
and the river al
lows unneeded
waste water to
clean itself in the
ground on the
way back to
nature's storage areas.
Schneider Equipment served as General Con
tractor for the project. HGE Engineers out of
Coos Bay were design engineers. Staff Attor
neys Estensen and Steve Kelly worked on wa
ter rights issues and contracts, respectively. A
Natural Resources construction crew did a lot of
the phase I and II construction work. Staff for
the system includes Robert Jones, Rod Smith,
Matt Givins, Tribal member Ron Reibach and
Ron Sabatini.
The project came in $90,000 under budget, said
Scott.