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May 12. 2015 12:01AM Our View: Abundant water no excuse for waste Every dry winter brings another reminder of the remarkable foresight of Medford leaders, not to mention the city's voters, who tapped Big Butte Springs starting in 1925 and built a pipeline to carry the water to the city's homes. The result is that today, with much of the West in the grip of a record drought, Medford Water Commission customers will not face water rationing or any other restrictions. But that shouldn't be an excuse to waste water. Even if supplies from the springs are normal, summer demand requires water from the Rogue River, which must be treated at much greater expense. And while Big Butte Springs is an extraordinarily reliable source of water, it is not unlimited. Medford voters in 1925 approved $975,000 in bonds to build the water system, which was completed in 1927. That's the equivalent of $13.5 million in 2013 dollars — and the resulting bill was covered by far fewer people. Today, water from Big Butte Springs serves not only Medford but most of the cities in Jackson County. Although snowpack this year is a small fraction of normal, rainfall has been much more plentiful. That doesn't help the reservoirs that depend on snow melt to refill for irrigation use, but Big Butte Springs does not depend on snow melt to the same extent. The springs are fed from the western slopes of Mount McLoughlin, which is composed of porous volcanic soil that permits all precipitation, even rain water, to sink into the ground and feed the aquifer below rather than running off. Because rainfall this winter was nearly 100 percent of normal, that means Big Butte Springs' supply is, too. But while it's tempting to pat ourselves on the back and celebrate our good fortune and the foresight of our forebears, all it would take would be repeated years of low snowpack coupled with below-normal rainfall to put this area's water supply at risk. So please be frugal with water use this summer. If being wise with water becomes a habit now, it will be much easier to cope with water restrictions if they become necessary in years to come.  http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150512/opinion/150519901 © 2016 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->