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Mr. Taylor said he had no other way to perfect the water right to offer them and asked if Mr. Zelenka was aware of <br />another way to do so. Mr. Zelenka replied that it appeared that there were two ways to perfect the right -- they <br />could also show that the consumption would be used within the City of Eugene and its existing customers. Mr. <br />Taylor replied that it would take over 120 years to show beneficial use of water assuming current population <br />projections were correct. <br />Mr. Zelenka asked how EWEB would perfect the water right. Mr. Taylor replied that the reality of it was that the <br />question became how much of the water right EWEB could perfect in order to secure the future. <br />Mr. Zelenka observed that the contract was for 40 years and seemed "like pretty much a permanent deal." He <br />acknowledged that the contract did have a pull -back provision. He asked how much of the McKenzie River water <br />rights were allocated at this point in time. Ms. Wilson replied that it depended on the time of year at which it was <br />measured; there were times at which it was not able to serve existing permit holders and other times when there was <br />more water available for permitting. She said the state would continue to offer permits so long as it was available <br />until the water availability changed. Mr. Taylor noted that there was still an additional 200 cubic feet per second <br />(CFS) available during the lowest flow month of the year, after the assumption by the department that EWEB had <br />taken the full 194 MGD out for its purposes. <br />Mr. Poling ascertained from Mr. Taylor that the environmental study for the proposed pipeline had already been <br />conducted. Mr. Taylor noted that the study was available on the Veneta web site. <br />In response to a follow -up question from Mr. Poling, Mr. Taylor stated that it was his understanding that there were <br />no significant findings at the conclusion of the report. He said this did not mean there would not need to be <br />mitigative actions that would have to be done. <br />Mr. Poling thought the built -in safeguards in the contract had been "very well done." He had read the op -ed piece <br />written by EWEB Board President John Brown that had been printed in the Register Guard. He felt that the piece <br />very clearly explained the entire issue and had put to rest any questions he had in regard to the benefits of the <br />contract. He thanked staff for the answers provided to the council. He understood that the City of Veneta needed <br />the water for current and future growth and that the water rights needed to be perfected. He agreed that if they did <br />not act now to perfect the right, they would lose it. <br />Mr. J. Brown thanked Mr. Poling. He stressed his passion for the McKenzie River and assured the council that if <br />he thought for a minute that anything EWEB was doing would jeopardize the river's integrity, he would oppose it. <br />He reiterated that this was a "use it or lose it concept." He stated that the minute the water went by the Hayden <br />Bridge intake it was mixed with millions of gallons of effluent from Weyerhauser's pulp mill and then a few miles <br />later it was mixed with Eugene /Springfield's metropolitan wastewater. He averred that for them not to be able to <br />satisfy the demand for where a majority of their workers lived, and not to provide this quality commodity, and then <br />to allow someone else downstream to take it and put chemicals in it to remove all of the things mixed into it after it <br />passed the intake would not be good stewardship of this resource. He considered the addition of chemicals for the <br />purposes of cleaning water to be an oxymoron. He believed the community would consider the contract with <br />Veneta forward thinking. <br />Mr. G. Brown thought it was fitting to be discussing the wholesale water contract at the same time they were <br />undertaking the Envision Eugene process. He said fundamentally the subtext of the discussion was how they were <br />going to grow. He asked if EWEB would offer water to the Cities of Coburg and Junction City. Mr. Taylor <br />responded that the two communities used groundwater. <br />Mr. G. Brown asserted that the agenda item summary (AIS) had incorrectly called this a regional solution to a <br />MINUTES —Joint Meeting - Eugene Water & Electric Board and Eugene City Council June 7, 2010 <br />Page 5 <br />