The rains this week and the current drought map are a reminder that we should be thinking about water more.
You might also recall the crash and fuel spill on Highway 22 last month.
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Crash and fuel spill on February 16th;
driver fined $265 for speeding earlier this month.
Statesman-Journal |
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February follow-up
Statesman-Journal |
That crash with an emerging pattern of crashes, the algae blooms and cyanotoxin, and our more general prospects for drought have not, however, seemed to make much of an impact on the way we talk about "Our Salem" and any amended Comprehensive Plan and a new Climate Action Plan.
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| Are we also planning for 60,000 more water users in particular? |
It happens we have a Water System Plan, but it is old and only briefly mentioned in the "Existing Plans Audit" for Our Salem.
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Salem has a "Water System Master Plan," but it's old!
Our Salem "Existing Plans Audit" (November 2018) |
I do not think we have revisited it, at least not in any public way. Here's a forecast that goes to 2013, and it would be interesting to see the actuals now compared to the forecast. I bet, like with traffic planning, there is rarely any attempt to revisit old forecasts to see how we did and what changes to make in new iterations and refinements to current forecasts. And then what about a new forecast that accounts for the probability of future droughts and accounts for an additional 60,000 water users?
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| Have we seen an updated forecast? (1994) |
I do not at all know any answers, but I am pretty sure we aren't talking enough about any analysis and all the trade-offs we will have to balance (and some to ward-off). Reflections on water are disconnected, not brought together in any synthetic view of our total water supply, delivery system, and ways we seek to manage growth.
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| February 18th, Register-Guard |
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| In the Statesman-Journal, June 2019 |
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| Low water at Detroit Lake in February - Stateman-Journal |
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| September 2015 |
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Too much on residential users,
and not enough on commercial users.
But we still waste too much.
November 2015 |
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| Statesman-Journal, May 2019 |
2 comments:
Here's a note I forgot about from 2016, when Council was going to sell to Hillsboro "56 cubic feet per second of the City of Salem's Willamette River water right."
"In addition to the 200 cfs water right on the Willamette River, the City holds a total of 239 cfs in water rights on the North Santiam River. The most recent long-term water demand forecast indicates that for the next 100 years or more, the water rights on the North Santiam River alone will be sufficient to meet the water needs of City customers."
Given the increasing probability of drought, and these 60,000 new residents, I wonder if that long-term water demand forecast has been updated.
Got this information off of the City of Salem webpage:
"Exploring supplemental water supplies
Salem is evaluating options for supplemental water supplies that include groundwater wells at the Geren Island Water Treatment Facility and expansion of the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) system at Woodmansee Park. Other water sources are also being studied as part of the City's Water Master Plan update."
Also, the City Manager told our neighborhood association when the water crisis was happening that the city had a long range plan to use water from the Willamette River. They were looking into cost at that time, so I assume the City's Water Master Plan will look at this when they do the update. Not heard when that would happen, but Steve Powers gave a two year time line back then. I got the impression that they are in fact looking at the issue. I also know that the City has been replacing sewer and water lines for decades...thus why are water rates are going up each year to cover those replacement costs.
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