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City of Ashland A city illustration shows the Ashland Canal next to a hiking path, at left, and an artistic rendition of what it might look like after the canal is put in an underground pipe. Monday Apr 23, 2018 at 6:55 PM Apr 23, 2018 at 6:55 PM By Tran NguyenAshland Daily Tidings City staff met with more questions and concerns from residents about the Ashland Canal piping project at a community meeting Wednesday night. “It just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Ashlander John Hauschild, who’s lived by “the ditch” for more than 25 years. “I don’t see how it would be worth it to do it.” The city is in its first phase of a project that staff said would increase the quality of the city’s seasonal water source and help minimize water loss in Ashland Canal. The plan, with construction expected to begin 2020, is to pipe the two-mile ditch that carries irrigation water from Talent Irrigation District that runs through the city and pours into Ashland Creek between April and October. Staff hosted two community meetings in March and April to listen to feedback and concerns, as the project consultant said the project “has many unknown at this point.” Many other residents echoed Hauschild’s sentiment at the meeting at Southern Oregon University, as they questioned the effectiveness of piping only two miles of Ashland Creek within the city while the upstream Talent Irrigation District (TID) canal remains open. Another concern expressed by public attendees was the accuracy of a water quality study conducted eight years ago used to justify the piping. “(The study) was done in 2010, could things be different between then and now?” Hauschild asked at the meeting. “I find it’s hard to believe that E. Coli and other contamination weren’t already in the water coming from upstream into Ashland Creek,” another resident said of miles of upstream open canal in the TID system. Staff said at the meeting that the piping project “won’t eliminate contamination, but it will reduce it” in several ways. Project planners cited a 2010 study that concludes water in Ashland Canal harbors a higher concentration of E. coli — a type of fecal coliform bacteria — and other contamination compared to water entering the city and downstream water in Ashland Creek. According to the study, E. coli levels were recorded at 42.4 most probable number (mpn) per 100 milliliters (ml) at Tolman Creek Road where the water enters the city. After the water ran openly through the two-mile Ashland Creek, the E. coli levels jumped to 229.9 mpn/100 ml at Herbert Street — a location that is close to where the water flows into Ashland Creek. The study points out the spike of contamination began from Morton Street to Herbert Street. “(The figures) demonstrate that E. coli counts increased from Tolman Creek, on the east side of town, to the TID outfall into Ashland Creek, on the west side of town,” the study reads. “What is clear is that there was a significant increase in E. coli as TID water traveled through the South side of Ashland.” The study also found the contamination concentration spiked on rainy days, suggesting that storm water runoff carried animal fecal matter into the ditch. The 48-page study, conducted in collaboration by Rogue Riverkeeper, Southern Oregon University, the city of Ashland and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, recommended the piping project. Public Works Director Paula Brown added that the city can only control — and pipe — the portion of water within the city. Staff said in the previous meeting that open water outside of Ashland’s limit is being addressed through the Water for Irrigation, Streams and Economy program (WISE). According to its website, the WISE project in Jackson County is a multi-faceted partnership among stakeholders and water users in the area. The group has been working to update the outdated infrastructure to mitigate water loss since 1990s. It won government backing in 2012 for a $250,000 feasibility study, which identifies a total of $30 million to $40 million to fund the project. TID, however, doesn’t plan to pipe its water at this time, according to staff. “Many projects are still seeking for funding,” Senior Project Manager Kevin Caldwell said at the previous meeting. “Ashland is actually ahead of a lot of municipalities around here.” The council approved $1.4 million for contracted service through System Development Charges last year. Other expenses for the project will be reimbursed through a low interest — at 1 percent — loan of $1.3 million from Department of Environmental Quality Clean Water State Revolving Fund, according to minutes of the council meeting on Aug. 1, 2017. Residents at the meeting also expressed concerns about trail access being cut off once the open water is gone. “Piping creates more property, per se,” said James McGinnis, Conservation Commissioner and member of the city’s trail committee. “The trail committee is afraid the project would have a potential negative impact on the existing trails.” Staff said trail access is one of the areas needing to be addressed, but it would most likely be up to the property owners. “Right now we only have easement out there,” Brown said. “Our primary project is for the water.” The city will conclude its field work by December this year. Staff will come back to the council before seeking permits for the project. —Reach reporter Tran Nguyen at 541-776-4485 or [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @nguyenntrann.