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Shady Cove prepares for another vote on a municipal water system By MELISSA MARTIN SHADY COVE - Folks tired of living in a town with failing wells want to create a water district that would supply Shady Cove residents with Rogue River water. Arthur Smith, a retired attorney from Hollywood, is the chief petitioner behind a proposed municipal water district that could provide treated river water to a town that's feeling the affects of what may become Southern Oregon's driest year ever. Voters would need to approve the water district before it can be formed. They also would have to pass $3 million in bonds and raise $6 million more in user fees and grants. "If that happened, within 18 months we could be up and operating," Smith said. That wouldn't be too soon for Fred Wendt, a councilman whose 7-gallons-per-minute well has been hitting bottom frequently. "If my wife and I run more than one thing at a time, the dishwasher or the washing machine, it kicks off," Wendt said. "It's never done this before." Wendt said he let his park-like lawn turn brown. It doesn't make a difference that he has a 62-gallon holding tank, either. "Once you start flushing toilets and running dish water, it doesn't last very long. We don't have any choice but to conserve." In contrast, Councilman Jack Henson last week drilled a new well on property he owns just outside the city limits in a neighborhood where many wells have gone dry. Drillers hit 95 gallons per minute at 440 feet. "It was enough water to take out part of my road when they hit it and it took awhile to cap it," said Henson, a member of the committee to form a water district. Shady Cove residents have twice voted against a city water system in 1992 when the price tag was $2.2 million and in 1999 when inflation and a decrease in state and federal help pushed the total to $11.1 million. But water district proponents are using vote tallies to offer hope for a third campaign, Smith said, citing a relatively narrow defeat last time - 515 to 413. He's also placing his hope in recent survey returns. He mailed 1,252 surveys to property owners and got 650 returns: 401 people said yes to water; 150 said no; and 99 said yes, but not now. Another reason Smith is hopeful the water district will pass is because he removed from its geographic boundaries the five mobile home parks in Shady Cove that traditionally vote against water bonds. The parks vote no because they have high-producing, reliable wells and because most residents live on fixed incomes and have no way to absorb tax increases, Smith said. But for the rest of Shady Cove residents, approving the water district would provide them with a $9 million treatment plant and distribution system, Smith said. The new proposal scales down the treatment plant and distribution system, excluding the areas where the plan has had the stiffest opposition. Smith hopes to secure $3 million in grants, $3 million from bonds and $3 million from user fees. He estimates monthly water bills would be $38.75. The property tax rate increase from the bonds would be about $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed value. (That would add $219 worth of annual property taxes for the owner of a $175,000 home.) "We think it's the fairest thing to do, pay for the system half by property taxes and half by user fees," Smith said. He's working with HGE, the Coos Bay engineering firm that created a water system master plan for the city in 1999. Smith will present the water district proposal to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners for approval. "It's probably the only town in the state without any water system, that just relies on wells," said County Commissioner Sue Kupillas. "It's what people expect from city services - water- and they're not getting it." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Alternate water system would tap mountain springs SHADY COVE - There's another group in town that hopes to wet this dry town's whistle, but using a different source of water. A group called Upper Rogue Power and Water wants to build a water system that would tap 21 springs they've discovered on the east slopes of Board Mountain just outside the city limits. But experts say a key question hasn't been answered: What is the volume of the springs and is it enough to supply Shady Cove's 2,315 residents? "The capability of the springs is a complete unknown," said Charles Lane, a Southern Oregon University geologist. Members of Upper Rogue Power and Water asked for his technical advise several months ago. He recommended building spring boxes to collect and measure the water's volume. He told the group to check the collection sites frequently and to collect data for six months to a year. That way, the springs could be monitored during the winter and spring, when precipitation and runoff recharges them, and during the dry summer, when flows tend to drop off. "Good news will take a long time in coming," Lane said. "Bad news about the ability of these springs to produce will come quickly because the springs might not flow at all." If the springs prove to be a dependable source, and if the group can find funding, their project could dovetail with the other group in town that wants to form a water district, according to Shady Cove Mayor Tom Anderson. "The two ought to work together," Anderson said. "The first group can go in and form a water district while the other group pursues the springs. If they prove reliable, the (springs) group can absorb the original water district and retire the debt." 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