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| Additional Water Quality Information |
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The McKenzie River Watershed Conservation Strategy identifies five major goals, among them “Protect and restore water quality and quantity.” The Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) provides drinking water to the City of Eugene via its intake at Hayden Bridge (RM 11) on the lower McKenzie near Springfield. And many private and public wells rely on groundwater in the watershed for their drinking water. Wild fish species, including spring Chinook salmon, bull trout, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout depend on high quality water in adequate quantities to flourish.
Water Quality Monitoring -- The watershed council and its partner agencies cooperate to collect and analyze water quality samples from various locations throughout the watershed. From 1993 to 2005, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) conducted sampling at seven sites on behalf of the local partners. Results from this 13-year effort indicated consistently excellent water quality as measured by the Oregon Water Quality Index, although water temperatures exceeded state standards to protect salmonids during various times of the year. Since 2006, EWEB has led the effort to coordinate baseline sampling in cooperation with the watershed council and local partners. The number of sampling sites increased to 13.
In 2011, EWEB completed the McKenzie River Watershed Baseline Monitoring Report, 2000 to 2009. The report can be viewed on the EWEB website at http://www.eweb.org/waterquality/protection. The executive summary of the report summarizes the status of McKenzie water quality as follows: “Currently, the McKenzie River has excellent water quality that is well below human health benchmarks and standards. However, baseline monitoring has identified some potential water quality issues in certain parts of the watershed (namely downstream tributaries like Cedar and Camp Creek, Keizer Slough and the Mohawk River) that may need to be addressed going forward so that they do not pose a threat to safe drinking water and aquatic health in the future. Treating contaminated water is orders of magnitude more expensive than preventing degradation in the first place, so we recommend making a concerted effort to keep the McKenzie River and watershed in the best condition possible and continue these and other water quality monitoring efforts to measure progress over time.”
The watershed council’s Water Quality Committee serves to coordinate and advise water quality monitoring efforts in the basin. Members represent the following entities: EWEB, Springfield Utility Board, City of Springfield, Springfield School District, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Corps of Engineers, DEQ, Weyerhaeuser Company, International Paper Company, Mohawk Watershed Partnership and McKenzie Watershed Council.
Water Quality Protection -- In 2010, Lane County attempted to adopt a new water protection overlay ordinance and to revise the current floodplain ordinance to protect water quality and property and promote health and safety. These efforts were aimed at limiting future development in the floodway, floodplain and riparian areas. The ordinances were tabled by the Board of Commissioners when numerous riverside landowners objected to the lack of involvement of landowners and other stakeholders in the development of the ordinances, and they objected in particular to the proposed overlay ordinance which included an increase of the riparian setback from 50 feet to 200 feet.
In the wake of this failed process, EWEB and the McKenzie Watershed Council are conducting outreach to communities and landowners to disseminate data on current water quality and to discuss possible voluntary measures that might assist in the protection of water quality in the McKenzie River. For example, this might involve the use of incentives to reward landowners for using best practices. Recently, EWEB adopted a program to provide no-interest loans for repair and replacement of septic systems and to support completion of a Blue River community sewage treatment system.