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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 4, 2005 City of Ashland Water Systems supervisor Terry Ellis looks on as Ashland’s effluent flows out into Ashland Creek. Photos by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings City effluent a hot topic Warm water harms fish in Bear Creek downstream from treatment plant By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Humans may enjoy swimming in warm water, but high temperatures can prove disastrous for fish. Warm water can spur the growth of fungus that invades fish egg beds — and can even stop eggs from hatching at all. Juvenile fish have higher energy needs and struggle to find enough food to grow, according to Cindy Deacon Williams, a fisheries biologist with the Headwaters environmental group in Ashland. Ed Bomberger sprays down the holding tank at the water treatment plant. This is done regularly to prevent build-up. “It’s hard to grow big enough to survive in the ocean,” she said. Both juveniles and adults, when skinny and unhealthy, are more susceptible to disease-causing organisms that flourish in warm water, Williams said. Water temperatures in Bear Creek already are at higher than natural levels, but Ashland contributes to the problem by emptying its warm treated sewage effluent into Ashland Creek near the Dog Park. Ashland Creek then flows a short distance before merging with Bear Creek. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is developing temperature standards for Bear Creek. The state agency encourages cities that empty wastewater into too-warm streams and rivers to instead use the effluent to irrigate agricultural lands during summer months when temperature is an issue, according to Jonathan Gasik, senior engineer for DEQ’s Medford office. But Williams and others believe that if the city of Ashland stops emptying its wastewater into the creek, it should trade that water to an irrigator in exchange for the irrigator leaving the same volume of cool water in the creek. Gasik said DEQ encourages, but does not require, such swaps to replace water in creeks. Depending on the time of year, Ashland’s wastewater makes up as much as half of Bear Creek’s flow. Local irrigation districts use Bear Creek to transport irrigation water, but when the irrigation season is over, creek flows can fall to as low as 3 cubic feet per second, estimated Talent Irrigation District Manager Jim Pendleton. Ashland releases about 2 or 3 cubic feet per second of wastewater in the summer, according to Co-Interim Public Works Director Ed Olson. Ron Roth, who operates Eagle Mill Farm downstream from the confluence of Ashland and Bear creeks, doesn’t want to see the city stop releasing the wastewater if it doesn’t find a way to replace that volume. He noted that in the drought year of 1992, the wastewater made up half of Bear Creek’s flow. In 1994, the creek’s flow would have dropped to almost zero cubic feet per second without the wastewater. “To have no water is worse than to have 70 degree water,” Roth said. The Ashland City Council and city staff are working to develop options for dealing with the pending DEQ temperature standards that address the concerns of community members. On Sept. 6, the council appointed Roth, local scientists and other citizens to a water task force that will meet over the winter to explore options and then present a recommendation to the council in April, Olson said. The council also agreed on that date to add a representative from an environmental group to the task force. Mayor John Morrison said he intends to nominate Williams. Past controversy The option to use treated sewage effluent for irrigation could prove controversial, based on the city’s past history with the concept. Ashland previously was faced with a DEQ requirement to either stop releasing its effluent into the creek or to remove phosphorus, a nutrient that spurs algae growth that robs oxygen needed by fish from water. A city council majority initially wanted to sprinkle the wastewater on an 800-acre city property across Interstate 5 from Ashland, but rural neighbors there feared bacterial contamination from the wastewater and put up a fierce fight to block the plan. The council eventually decided to upgrade the sewage treatment plant to remove phosphorus and continue to empty wastewater into the creek. Wastewater treatment plant upgrades were completed in 2002, according to Olson. The city spent $6.5 million on a membrane filtration system to remove the phosphorus, according to Terry Ellis, water quality supervisor for the city’s wastewater division. Olson said if the city did decide to use the effluent for irrigation in response to the temperature standards, he doesn’t believe the controversy would repeat itself. The city’s earlier plan had called for the effluent to be treated to Level 3, but the city actually treats its effluent to the higher standard of Level 4, he said. “The water produced at the wastewater treatment plant is of far higher quality than is in Bear Creek,” he noted. Irrigators who pull water from Bear Creek below Ashland’s sewage plant are already using diluted effluent for irrigation, he said. However, neighbors of the city’s 800-acre parcel were not reassured several years ago by city data that showed the sprinkled wastewater would have been cleaner than irrigation ditch water. According to Olson, the city parcel does have irrigation water rights equivalent to about 1.85 million gallons a day. The city releases nearly the same amount of effluent in the summer. The irrigation water could be left in-stream in exchange for the city effluent. If the city council does decide to use the effluent for irrigation, the city will not have wasted money by upgrading the plant to remove phosphorus, according to Olson. That’s because the wastewater would only be used for irrigation in the summer when temperature standards apply. The city must meet the phosphorus standards year-round, including in winter, when the wastewater would still be emptied into the creek, he said. Other options available The city council could choose to use other methods to address the temperature standards. The city could earn thermal credits by planting trees along the creek that would cool the water, Olson said. Another option is to refrigerate the wastewater in a cooling system, but that method uses a lot of energy and is expensive, according to Olson. Another, less expensive cooling option could be to pump the water through a tower that would chill the water through evaporation. The energy cost would be to pump the water, which is less costly than refrigerating the water, Gasik said. He said the City of Pendleton is looking at sending its wastewater underground, where it would be cooled by earth. A wetlands system also could cool the water. Both Roth and Williams said they would like the Ashland water task force to take a holistic approach and see if it can recommend an approach that would tackle water quality issues that go beyond just temperature. For example, Williams said a wetlands integrated with the city’s sewage treatment plant could improve the effluent quality, while smaller wetlands scattered throughout town could help remove sediment and oil that currently runs off city streets, through the storm-drain system and into Ashland Creek. Targeting a number of water quality issues could be cheaper in the long run, she said. “There’s no reason to correct one without regard to the other ones that are out there,” Williams said. “You know you’ll be back at the table again.” Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 482-3456 x 3018 or [email protected]. 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