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Water charge targeted for dam storage By Melissa Martin EAGLE POINT � The City Council�s approval of a new system development charge for water rights takes affect Oct. 26. The fee, which is $411 for the average new home, will eventually help Eagle Point purchase water storage at Lost Creek Dam, said city administrator David Hussell. "There is a finite base at Lost Creek Lake and if the reserve is used up, it has long-term, major implications," Hussell said. Eagle Point fees total $7,061 It will now cost $7,061 in city fees to build a new home in Eagle Point. Cities use system development charges as a way of helping growth pay for itself. In Eagle Point, a new home buyer pays: $470 for parks; $548 to the Medford Water Commission; $1,406 for Eagle Point�s water distribution; $1,453 for streets; $1,297 to Bear Creek Valley Sanitary Authority; $1,010 for Eagle Point sewer lines; $465 for the Highway 62 sewer trunk line; and $411 for water rights. Phoenix and Jacksonville have purchased water storage at Lost Creek Lake, but three other cities that depend on Rogue River water now or in the near future � Eagle Point, Central Point and Talent � still need to. The federal government owns Lost Creek Lake water and facilities and signs agreements with water users as a way of paying for the 24-year-old dam�s construction, said Mike Posovich, hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps charges $674 per acre foot, which includes a 3 percent interest rate that is expected to jump to 8.5 percent by 2012 because of the dam�s payoff schedule, Posovich said. Cities that buy storage become part owner of the dam, paying annual maintenance and operation fees of about $15 per acre foot. Eagle Point will need 3,000 acre feet of water at a cost of about $2.5 million, Hussell said. The city is expected to have a population of 15,000 to 20,000 by 2025, Hussell said. Lost Creek Lake�s 465,000 acre feet of water is divided up for different users: 10,000 acre feet for cities and industries, 35,000 acre feet for irrigation and 125,000 acre feet for fish, Posovich said. Some 1,403 of the 10,000 acre feet reserved for cities or industries has been spoken for, Posovich said. However, the remaining 8,597 acre feet could swiftly be drained by cities that may draw from the Rogue River in the future but haven�t purchased storage yet, according to Bob Jones, hydrologist for the Medford Water Commission. "Who would come up short?" Jones asked. "In this day and age, there is no other place to get water." Medford Water Commission has been supplying water to Medford, Central Point, Jacksonville, Eagle Point and next year to Phoenix and Talent using surplus water agreements. But last year, Medford Water Commission asked cities to purchase their own water rights. Medford Water Commission, which enjoys natural flow or river rights, may also purchase storage at Lost Creek Lake as a way of securing future supply, Jones said. Medford Water Commission�s main source of water is Big Butte Springs near the town of Butte Falls. But in the summer, the spring supply is supplemented by treated water from the Rogue River. "Water is going to be a definite force on what happens in the future growth of this area," Hussell said. He wonders what would happen to the reservoir allocations if a heavy industrial water user, such as a computer chip plant, moved to the Rogue Valley. "Is 10,000 acres enough for municipal and industrial use?" Hussell asked. "Once you run out of the resource, it�s gone." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.