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43 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 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 Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? 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 December 21, 2004 Engineer Bill Ryan says a small reservoir in this area along Foothill Road in east Medford could capture enough water in Lone Pine Creek during storms to keep runoff out of homes that line the floodplain. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Planning for the future Small reservoirs in key areas throughout the Rogue Valley could take the sting out of future flooding By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Bill Ryan surveys open space along Lone Pine Creek as it meanders toward east Medford subdivisions, and he envisions the future of flood control in the Rogue Valley. Ryan, an engineer who works on water-related projects, believes a small lake-like reservoir here could capture enough Lone Pine Creek flows during heavy rainstorms to keep water out of east Medford homes that now line the creek’s floodplain. Even if it’s held for only a few hours or a few days, the captured water could shave enough off the peak flow to mean the difference between having a watery lawn or a wet living room in Medford, Central Point and other downstream locales. "For flood control, if you can hold it for a week, that’s plenty," Ryan says. "You don’t need to hold it until summer to make a difference." Realizing that monolithic main-stem dams are likely the answers of the past, Ryan believes dozens of little capture reservoirs on Bear Creek’s tributaries could provide the best new solutions for adding more flood control. Advertisement These smaller projects, still in the idea stage, wouldn’t corral large events like the flood of 1964, but they could lessen the impact of high waters’ damaging peaks on floodplain residents. "For flood control, you have to knock down the peak and spread that water over time," says Ryan, from the firm CH2M Hill. "Little reservoirs on all these creeks could do that. "I don’t know what else to do." Stiffer environmental laws, salmon protection requirements and soaring costs will prohibit any more large structures like Lost Creek and Applegate dams, or even smaller hydroelectric dams that could help hold floodwaters when needed. "We have no plans whatsoever to build more dams for hydroelectric purposes," says Dave Kvamme, a Pacific Power spokesman in Portland. "As late as the ’40s, people were thinking dam-building was done." Retrofitting existing dams for increased flood-control capacity likely won’t work here as it has at Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River. That dam was retrofitted in 2003 to withstand the largest flood imaginable — something greater than a 1,000-year flood, or one more than 100 times greater than the ’64 event. Structures like Ashland’s Reeder Reservoir likely cannot withstand the additional pressure from holding more water and are considered poor candidates for retrofitting. "I just don’t know if adding height would bring us any real help in a flood," says Paula Brown, Ashland’s public works director. Environmental laws and the threat of lawsuits mean the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers probably won’t finish half-built Elk Creek Dam near Trail for decades at best, says outgoing Jackson County Commissioner Sue Kupillas, a flood-control advocate. "I think the appeals would go on forever on any structure," Kupillas says. "For public-policy purposes, you have to be in absolute crisis to get any action." So the future, Kupillas believes, is in the mini-reservoirs Ryan envisions. The concept is to operate these small reservoirs much like the Corps runs Lost Creek dam. When storms rage and waterways like Lone Pine Creek swell, water can be diverted into what amounts to a part-time lake instead of flushed downstream. As rains subside, the water can be released slowly. In the summer, the little winter lakes could serve as parks, Ryan says. The winter water also could be stored for release in the summer, when agricultural and in-stream needs are high, he says. The lakes would be out of the streams or above salmon habitat, so they would not affect salmon runs, he says. "It’s going to be interesting to figure out how to do this, but it has to be done," Ryan says. Off-channel storage of storm water isn’t a viable option for Ashland, because the Ashland Creek drainage doesn’t have that space, Brown says. Since the New Year’s Day flood of 1997 overran Ashland’s downtown Plaza, the city decided a methodical rebuilding of bridges where the creek backed up would be its best defense. With the help of nearly $1 million in state and federal grants, Ashland is spending more than $1.7 million to create a smoother path for future Ashland Creek floodwater to bypass the Plaza and reach Bear Creek. More than $1 million of the money restructured the Winburn Way Bridge at the upper end of the Plaza, and plans are to do similar changes to the Water Street Bridge beginning this spring. The work doesn’t capture floodwaters but primarily steers them in a less-destructible path. "We’ll probably see another flood in the future and we won’t be able to stop it," Brown says. "Even with all the systems in place, if we get an event like ’97, we’re going to get overrun. "But if we have a better pathway for the water, that’s the best we can do for our community," she says. On Lone Pine Creek, irrigation canals that zigzag the hills can serve as surrogate reservoirs, filling with storm water that normally would flush down creeks. But the canals are not meant to capture storm runoff, like little reservoirs could. "I don’t know what other options we have," Ryan says. "It’s that or you restrict development out of the floodplain. And with the price of land, that would cost a bundle." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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