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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2019)
S moke S ignals FEBRUARY 15, 2019 9 Winter stories Chinuk Immersion K-5 Teacher Justine Flynn reads a story in Chinuk Wawa as Chinuk Immersion Preschool Teacher Jeff Mercier, second from right, translates into English during the Winter Story Night held in achaf- hammi on Thursday, Feb. 7. Those in attendance also were given a copy of the story in book form in Chinuk Wawa published by the Chinuk Language Program. The Chinuk Language Program held a Winter Story Night in achaf- hammi on Thursday, Feb. 7. A story read in Chinuk Wawa and translated into English was read aloud. Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez Marie Quenelle, 8, and Ayden Ruiz, 6, follow along to a story read in Chinuk Wawa and translated into English. Upcoming pipe replacement will help ensure safety WATER continued from page 8 The Tribe has not had a represen- tative serve on the seven-member Water Association Board of Direc- tors since Public Works Coordina- tor John Mercier left after three years in 2012. Also included in the draft Strate- gic Plan is the goal of completing a water rights legal review and the development of a memorandum for Tribal Council to approve to increase the Tribe’s security over its municipal water supply. Part of that legal review, Engi- neering and Public Works Manager Jesse White says, is determining if 10 Tribal irrigation water rights could ever be used for quasi-munic- ipal purposes. The Tribe also owns five qua- si-municipal water rights that total more than 217 million gallons annually. The water is available for use by the casino and lodge, and as a possible backup supply for the Water Association should its source ever be interrupted. The Executive Office, Tribal Attorney’s Office, Public Works Department and Planning Depart- ment have been identified as the Tribal entities that will work on Tribal water issues. Planning Director Rick George says the likelihood of the Grand Ronde Tribe acquiring its own significant water right from the state of Oregon is probably minis- cule based on surface water rights Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez Karl Ekstrom, manager of the Grand Ronde Community Water Association, is interviewed in his office on Thursday, Jan.17. downstream, but the Tribe could become more involved with the Water Association by having a representative on the board. The Tribe also could build a storage tank that would supply Tribal residents when the Water Association issues a drinking water advisory, which it last did in Octo- ber 2015 when coliform bacteria was detected. It was the seventh straight year that the Water Asso- ciation detected coliform bacteria in its supply. To resolve the issue, the Water Association used chlorine to sani- tize the storage tanks. The Water Association doesn’t disinfect with chlorine or add fluoride to its water on a regular basis. At the time, Polk County Envi- ronmental Health Supervisor Jim Solvedt said that finding coliform bacteria in rural water systems is not unusual since biomass buildup inside pipes is common. “It’s a really good source of wa- ter,” he said about the Grand Ronde Community Water Association. Mercier says his No. 1 item from a Tribal strategic planning perspec- tive would be seeing a larger water line tie-in with the 12-inch water line that ends at the intersection of Grand Ronde and Hebo roads, which would create a loop and im- prove water supplies and fire pro- tection to Uyxat Powwow Grounds and the achaf-hammi plankhouse off Hebo Road. “That would improve water deliv- ery in leaps and bounds,” Mercier says. But, he adds, the Tribe does not need to consider creating its own municipal water system because of the abundance of water provided by the Water Association. “When we talk about water de- livery and the different types of water delivery that we need for this community, we want to try to create a system that’s just safe for our users,” Mercier says. “What that really means to us is just working together with the Water Associa- tion as we plan for our needs. “Personally, us just working with Grand Ronde Water is my desir- able. They are already structured and in place to deliver water.” Ekstrom says an upcoming pipe replacement project will help en- sure the water supply’s safety. The $400,000 project will upsize 4-inch pipes near the springs and allow the Water Association to extract more water. Another project will replace a failing booster pump sta- tion near Rowell Creek. “It’ll be a safer supply, not that our current supply is unsafe. It’ll just make it safer,” Ekstrom says. “If you’re only talking about a few hundred more homes, (water sup- ply) should never be an issue.”