CC Minutes - 06/07/10 Work Session

Home Browse Search

basis was not unusual or new in EWEB's history; EWEB had been doing it on an ongoing basis for nearly 70 years. He stated that EWEB currently sold water to water districts with customers outside the City of Eugene, including the Willamette Water Company, Santa Clara Water District, Glenwood, and the River Road Water District. EWEB had also sold to other water districts or utilities but had concluded the contracts for one reason or another. He noted that the concept of regional water supply was well- documented as a best practice in Portland, Salem, Hillsboro, and Medford. Mr. Farmer said planning, as a regional strategy to protect EWEB's water rights, had been going on for a long time. He stated that the effort had been included as part of the Water Master Plan of 2004. The concept had been first introduced to the Mayor and key City staff in August, 2005. He underscored that it had been part of all of EWEB's interagency and regional planning discussions. Mr. Farmer observed that planning was the "slave of funding." He related that in late 2009, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under its Rural Development Department had contacted Veneta to indicate that significant funding was available and the department was interested in Veneta's desire to purchase water from EWEB. He said the USDA had encouraged the City of Veneta to submit an application by February 1, 2010, to help fund the project. Prior to the USDA funding opportunity, supplying regional water to Veneta was a hypothetical proposition. He stated that with funding, the theoretical had moved to a possible real timeline and EWEB had moved to expedite this opportunity. He stressed that EWEB understood well its responsibility to perfect and protect its water rights. He conveyed EWEB's spirit of excitement regarding this project and the hope that it would extend to its partnership at the City Council. Brad Taylor, EWEB Senior Water Engineer, provided a Powerpoint presentation on the project and EWEB's current water rights. He underscored that it was in their mutual best interest to put permitted water to beneficial use in order to help to assure water availability for the citizens of Eugene in future years; there was surplus capacity available and it would spread the high fixed -cost over a wider base, reducing future rate increases. He explained that EWEB had three water rights on the McKenzie River, two of them in use and one not perfected. He said if water was needed the entities with the oldest unused water rights would be faced with the possible loss of the right. He stated that EWEB needed to show that it was using 25 percent of the water right to be certificated. He described the best management water use practices to which they were required to adhere. Mr. Taylor stated that if the water right was not secured, the water would go back to the state and be available for others to request. He pointed out that water was still available from the McKenzie River for appropriation and within the last month there had been more applications for permits for those rights. He stressed that if EWEB gave up its right to access the river, EWEB would not get it back without having to move to the end of the line of requests. Losing the priority established in 1961, would have a huge impact on the way EWEB used its water into the future. He noted that with the loss of Hynix and the shifting of Glenwood water service from EWEB to the Springfield Utility Board (SUB), EWEB's water use had been recently reduced. He stated that there had been a great deal of interest from outside communities in EWEB as a water source and all of the satellite communities had identified EWEB as a potential water source within their water master plans, which were required by the state. Mr. Taylor discussed the City of Veneta's water situation. They had determined that it did not make sense to pursue further groundwater sources. He said the findings for the project to extend water from EWEB had included that no significant impact would be created by the building of the pipeline. Debra Smith, EWEB Director of Customer, Employee, and Community Relations, stated that the contract had been signed in April. She stated that the initial contract term was 40 years, which was consistent with the financing that Veneta was pursuing, with subsequent 10 -year renewal options, and required that Veneta maintain its own emergency water supply, which it planned to do with its current well system. She related that as part of the legal requirements Veneta would either maintain its existing water management and conservation plan or formally adopt MINUTES —Joint Meeting - Eugene Water & Electric Board and Eugene City Council June 7, 2010 Page 2