Summary: Ashland Water Forum reveals that Ashland has no back up water supply in the event serious of drought or natural disasters in the city’s watershed! Ashland city government is incredibly not sitting at the table with the partners and advisory committee of the regional management study of water resources in the Butte Creek and Bear Creek watersheds. When is Ashland going to start taking regional water planning seriously? When is the city going to consider the necessity of major conservation measures? Email Mike Fraught, Public Works Director, City of Ashland, 541.552.2411, and/or Steve Mason, Coordinator of the WISE project for questions or to give input (general contact info page).
Full Details:
On March 19th, a Water Forum at the Ashland Community Center was sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Cheers to the League for their continuing efforts to bring important issues before the public. Featured Speakers were Mike Faught, Public Works Director, City of Ashland and Steve Mason, Coordinator of the WISE project (Water for Irrigation, Streams and Economy). Each speaker gave a half hour presentation followed by an hour of questions and discussion. Several of the Ashland public works staff were present to assist in the discussion.
The 200 people who packed the Ashland Community Building prodded the speakers with intelligent and provocative questions that prompted lively discussion. When the program ended, many remained to continue conversations with the speakers and each other. Mike, who has been on the job in Ashland only a year now, was informed and obviously comfortable in handling questions from the attendees. He discussed regional and local issues that applied to Ashland. Steve delivered an informative overview of the WISE project, a regional approach to improving quality of stream, irrigation and by implication, potable water supplies.
Many long term problems face Ashland’s water supply.
Mike Faught stated unequivocally that in the event of a major watershed event such fire, severe draught or catastrophic flooding Ashland has essentially no back up and the City would be able to truck in water for only a short time. At present, Ashlanders draw 2 million gallons a day in regular season and up to 7 millions gallons/day during peak in summer demand. Translated into per capita use this amounts to an average of 100!!gallons a day per person and more than three times that during driest summer periods.
A little known fact not brought by the speakers is that Ashland supplements the draw from Reeder Reservoir with Talent Irrigation District (TID) water towards the end summer, even in normal years. The uncertainties of climate change do not bode well for our water systems as currently configured. Steve Mason presented the case for the WISE project, which would replace the 150 miles of open irrigation ditches with pipes. Over 60 percent of the irrigation water in the canals is currently lost due to seepage and evaporation. The need for the WISE project is compelling and the project is looking at over 100 million dollars to complete after completion of the initial 3 million dollar feasibility study. The project would create major improvements in supply, water quality in streams, reduce the draw on our mountain reservoirs and provide a major buffer for extended drought both supporting both irrigation and potable supplies. Mike and Steve both made clear the complexity of the problems facing us long term and short term. For some reason they gave almost no attention to the vital issue of conservation by water consumers. Competing vested interests and the legal issues of water rights will distract from the basic issues as we proceed to a solution. Incredibly, Ashland is not signed on either as a member of the 19 organizations of the Public Advisory Committee or as a direct partner in the WISE project, despite Ashland’s dependence on TID water for BOTH irrigation and potable water back up. It is unlikely that the WISE project will be completed within a decade given adequate funding. In meantime Ashland is vulnerable to the exigencies of climate change, and other threats without any short term solutions yet. Important links ( WISE www.wiseproject.org , Bear Creek Watershed Committee www.bearcreek-watershed.org/MN.asp?pg=aws )
