By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Drought conditions led to the Yachats city council declaring a phase 1 water-shortage emergency Wednesday, which means water customers will need to moderately curtail watering lawns, gardens and landscapes and shut off fountains that do not recirculate water.
The declaration requires residents to water on alternating days based on the last number of their street address – with those ending on even numbers watering on even numbered calendar days and odd and fractional-numbered on odd numbered days.
“Those are pretty, pretty moderate restrictions,” said mayor Craig Berdie.
Berdie said the council might in the future consider moving some of the phase II restrictions into phase I, with a prime example being power-washing.
Phase I restrictions are based on water levels in the Yachats River, as a general indicator, and the combined flows of Reedy and Salmon creeks — which supply water for the city.
Restrictions are triggered when flow in Yachats River dips below 35 cubic feet per second, and the combined flows of Reedy and Salmon is less than .64 cubic feet per second, which is the equivalent of 275 gallons per minute.
Despite a slight bump up with recent rains, the Yachats River has been dropping quickly with a recorded flow of 8.4 cubic feet per second Wednesday, while Reedy and Salmon were at a combined 270 gallons per minute a week ago.
During winter the Yachats runs at more than 1,000 cubic feet per second, and the combined flows of Reedy and Salmon deliver 1,000 gallons per minute.
The coastal region is currently in a moderate to extreme drought, according to the Palmer Drought Severity Index, and Lincoln County last week was one of three counties added to an emergency drought declaration by Gov. Tina Kotek.
The city sent notices to Yachats residents Wednesday apprising them of phase 1 restrictions. Penalties for non-compliance are two written notifications followed by a third that carries a $60 fine and having water shut off for five days.
All commercial large meter users, which includes restaurants, commercial water and transient water must post the written notice provided by the city in a conspicuous location within 24 hours of receiving it.
“That I think is important,” Berdie said. “(Restaurants) do not have to stop serving water explicitly in phase 1 but I would suggest it would be best practice.”
If the drought continues along with subsequent drops in water levels, additional restrictions will be imposed. If the combined flows of Reedy and Salmon creeks go below 200 gallons per minute, the city would implement phase 2 restrictions. That would further restrict landscape watering and ban the washing of vehicles, tools, watercraft, buildings and pavement.
Yachats last instituted phase 2 restrictions in 2015. Under phase 3 restrictions all landscape watering is prohibited and motels and other “commercial large meter” users are required to wash linens outside the city.
Solution in the works
In order to avoid water restrictions, Yachats has been negotiating with the Southwest Lincoln County Water Peoples Utility District to provide water. They have agreed in principle to have the district supply the city with up to 100 gallons a minute of water if flows drop below the restriction limit, said Yachats water supervisor Rick McClung.
The agreement — which has been signed by the city of Yachats and is awaiting Southwest Lincoln board approval — is just for emergency or drought situations until a more formal, long-term agreement can be drawn up, he said.
The pipes from the two systems connect at a pump located on the west side of U.S. Highway 101 just north of the Overleaf Lodge. If ever implemented, McClung said the city would pump water from Southwest Lincoln to its 1 million gallon storage tank on Radar Road.
Crews from Yachats and Southwest Lincoln worked together to check the connection last week, said McClung.
“It went really good, smooth as a whistle,” McClung said. “We turned it on and everything worked perfectly. Hopefully we won’t have to use it anytime soon but it’s ready to go.”
After declaring the phase 1 restrictions, council members discussed the need to change the language of the current water-restriction ordinance if and when it reaches an agreement with Southwest Lincoln to provide water, which would pre-empt the need to declare a water-shortage emergency.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
