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68 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, September 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 25, 2004 Proposed Billings Ranch water deal could benefit both sides By JONEL ALECCIA Mail Tribune It's hard to tell who would benefit most from a proposed water trade agreement between the city of Ashland and the developers of the proposed Billings Ranch Golf Course. Would it be golf course promoters, who would receive up to 2.1 million gallons a day of the city's treated sewage effluent to irrigate 170 acres of greens, fairways and landscaping? Or would it be city officials, who would get access to at least 830,000 gallons a day in in-stream water rights from Ashland Creek and the Talent Irrigation District? Such a source could boost flows to Bear Creek, enhance fish populations, reinvigorate Wrights Creek and save the city the considerable costs of cooling effluent to environmentally acceptable standards, county officials say. "I think it's going to be the art of negotiation," says Raul Woerner, a Jackson County planner familiar with the project. Advocates on both sides of the proposal likely will seek to emphasize the benefits they bring, if only to work out details such as who pays to pump, pipe and store the water in question. Advertisement Ashland Public Works Director Paula Brown told a study session of the City Council this month that several factors in the arrangement "make this option very attractive" to the city. First, the city faces a dilemma about what to do with up to 2.1 million gallons of treated effluent generated each day. Recent improvements, including the addition of a "membrane" filtration system, have boosted quality of the water to the state Department of Environmental Quality's Level 4. Level 5 is drinking water. In Oregon, Level 4 water is fine for irrigating lawns and gardens; in California, such treated water is considered clean enough to fill swimming pools. Despite its improved quality, the treated Ashland effluent emerges at a temperature of 74 degrees — about 10 degrees too warm to be released into Bear Creek, according to DEQ standards. A DEQ hearing in early May is expected to give the city five years to improve temperatures or face sanctions. Costs for cooling the effluent are "quite expensive" says Brown, although actual costs have not yet been calculated. In the meantime, the city is pursing other options. "My personal desire is to make sure we use the right water for the right use," Brown says. Using the effluent to irrigate the Billings course would solve that problem, Brown says. In recent years, effluent irrigation of golf courses has been regarded as an environmentally sound solution to water shortages and recycling concerns, she says. At first glance, Brown's assessment appears accurate, says Ashland City Council Member Chris Hearn. But he wants public input and hearings to assess potential reactions. "I saw it as a potential benefit," he says. "But we don't want it to look like a done deal. If people foresee that it's a done deal, they're going to be resentful of that." For Peru and the Billings family, the benefits could come in the form of a generous, ready source of irrigation, especially during potentially arid summer months. Using an estimated 800,000 to 1 million gallons of water a day, golf course operators could pay more than $100 a day to irrigate the course. Brown cites figures showing that the Billings family holds water rights dating to the mid-1800s for Ashland Creek, the Talent Irrigation District and Wrights Creek. The TID rights provide only about 12 million gallons per season, which is inadequate for golf course use, Brown notes. The Ashland Creek and Wrights Creek rights provide about 830,500 gallons a day, according to Brown's figures, "not enough for the summer demands of the golf course." Peru says he and Brown have not yet agreed on precise figures, but that he has "plenty of water" to irrigate his course all year using Billings' own sources. Ra Wollenburg, a neighbor of the proposed golf course site, worries that city officials will give away the effluent without enough assurances the Billings sources will provide ample water for Bear Creek. "I'm just a little nervous about downstream in 20 years when the city is fighting with the golf course for water rights," he says. "That's not something you have one meeting about." Other unanswered questions include whether golf course developers would store the extra effluent in deepened holding ponds, whether the city would continue to negotiate to send some of the effluent to the TID or even to its own golf course at the south end of town, and who will pay for transport, storage and other associated costs of the water. Representatives for the city, the county and the golf course all say they plan to proceed slowly on the complicated proposal, with plenty of public input. "It's what's best for everybody," Peru says. 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