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Shady Cove residents surveyed on public water By MELISSA MARTIN SHADY COVE - Will the third try for a municipal water system here be the charm? Residents received a mailed survey over the past week asking if they want a public water system and whether they are willing to pay for it. The idea has been rejected in two votes over the past 10 years. A committee of citizens who want to create a Shady Cove Water District sent the survey to 1,252 property owners. They also sent different questionnaires to 107 residents who own manufactured homes, but not the land they sit on. Because the seven manufactured home parks in Shady Cove have traditionally voted down water bond measures, the committee's surveys asked a different question - whether or not residents want a public water system. "We can't please everybody," said Arthur Smith, a private citizen who is organizing the water effort. He also serves on the city's budget committee. "We may have people who want water, but live so far away it's not economically feasible. Or the water might come right by their door and they don't want it," Smith said. This is the third, citizen-run effort in recent years to create a public water system in this river town that was incorporated in 1972. Residents approved a bond to build a sewer system soon after the city was formed, but talk of a public water system didn't surface until several private wells began drying up. Shady Cove residents rely on about 500 private and shared wells. Like a dozen straws in a single glass, Shady Cove has too many wells in too small an area, geologists say. Some people have reliable wells that produce 100 gallons a minute while others have wells that produce 1 or 2 gallons a minute or nothing at all. Voters said no to water bond measures in 1992, when the project would have cost $2.2 million, and no in 1999 when the system would have cost $11.1 million. This time around, the committee may promote a project that allows part of the town to stay out of the water loop as a way of getting voters to say yes to a bond measure, according to Smith. Smith said he is more worried about lack of water because of the summer's high fire danger. Shady Cove has no hydrants - Fire District 3 hauls, stores or draws water from ponds, pools, wells, the river and a newly-installed 30,000-gallon storage tank. "The fire situation in Shady Cove is terrible," Smith said. "The only true improvement is to have a water district." Smith proposes drawing and treating Rogue River water. However, a political action committee called Upper Rogue Water and Power is promoting a public water system that would tap underground springs, said member Daryl Hawkins. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.