By Mary Owen
Last month, the North Santiam Watershed Council released ECONorthwest’s final report on the importance of water in the North Santiam basin.
ECONorthwest’s report took 17 months to complete, and was sponsored by the Oregon Business Council, Meyer Memorial Trust, Ford Family Foundation, Marion Soil & Water Conservation District, Marion County, City of Salem and NSWC.
The report states there is a $42 annual value to residential users to mitigate water curtailment, above and beyond what is already paid for water. Correctional facilities are the largest North Santiam Watershed industry user of water.
ECONorthwest’s lead author Sarah Reich told people who attended the rollout on Feb. 19 at the Marion County Public Works Building in Silverton that over 500,000 recreational visits occur in the North Santiam watershed per year at an average of $73 per visit above what people spend on travel, gear and other items. “This equates to $36.5 million annually in economic activity,” Reich said in her presentation. “The visitor demand to the North Santiam Watershed directly correlates with reservoir levels: a 1-foot drop at the Detroit Reservoir equals a 2 percent decline in visitation to the region.”
The report notes that traditionally unirrigated crops are transitioning to irrigated crops either through the planting of premium crops to maintain economic viability or due to changes in weather patterns that modifies traditional
growing seasons.
Lastly, the distribution of benefits and costs are uneven: beneficiaries aren’t necessarily bearing the costs of water management, mitigation, protection and conservation efforts.
“The North Santiam Watershed is a special place with complex competing and complementary users,” said Rebecca McCoun, NSWC executive director. “The economic and ecological viability of the North Santiam Watershed will be based on many federal and state actions over the next few years.”
McCoun said several actions directly impact the North Santiam Watershed: the Willamette Biological Opinion Implementation (also known as BiOp), the Detroit Fish Passage project, the Willamette Basin Water Re-allocation study and the Environmental Impact Statement and Endangered Species Act consultation. These are projects managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers and under consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
“The Willamette Basin Re-allocation is the most important of these projects as it sets the permanent prioritization of stored water behind Detroit Dam,” McCoun said. “This will have a long lasting impact on the North Santiam Watershed users and the surrounding region.”
McCoun said the reallocation is a Willamette basin-wide approach that includes the Portland Metro region down to roughly the Umpqua National Forest.
“This is not a North Santiam Watershed specific approach,” she said. “This is a massive and complex undertaking where local priorities and the local community economic and social impacts may not be fully accounted for or realized until years after any implemented change.”
McCoun said the Oregon Water Resources Department manages the water and allots available water based on who has certificates for the earliest priority dates.
“Currently the water contracts in the Willamette Basin are oversubscribed, but water use remains under the contracted amount,” she said. “Conservation measures alone will not be enough to get us out of the water deficit. This means if there is an administrative or meteorological drought, junior water rights holders, such as the small city of Gates, are not guaranteed water and maybe cut off under extended period
of water shortage.”
OWRD’s decision will determine the future water availability for irrigated local farms, recreation, municipalities, fish and aquatic habitats.
“Management of the water quality, quantity, timing, collection, storage, points of diversion and water distribution will be modeled and re-allocated,” McCoun said. “For irrigated farms, this is particularly worrisome as the need for crop irrigation has only increased in the last few years making it more difficult for the farms to remain economically viable.”
Concerns are growing among irrigators that the Willamette Basin reallocation baseline information and subsequent modeling is flawed as it does not fully take into consideration climate change and the increasing need for irrigated farmland, according to McCoun.
“It is also possible the data used for the predictive models are outdated and does not fully appreciate the under-reported water use data from the Oregon Water Resources Department,” she said. “The recent ECONorthwest report attempts to quantify this economic cost and potential economic harm to the North Santiam Watershed.
“Unfortunately, OWRD lacks knowledge of what water is actually being used in the watershed as not all current water uses have proper water certificates,” McCoun said. “Therefore, the estimates utilized to quantify agricultural use are likely outdated.”
Credible and accurate water use and projections will be needed to negotiate and/or contest future federal water decisions, McCoun said.
“Agricultural products are enormously important to our historical roots and the economic future of Marion County,” she said. “While agricultural crops grown in Marion County account for a small portion of the overall economic base, the supporting industries such as food processors, beverage manufacturers and the transportation sectors significantly impact the overall economic and social health of our community. Abundant access to high quality, low cost water is imperative for their operations to continue in this region. Uncertainty about the regulatory landscape for water makes it difficult for water-dependent farms and businesses to make long term investments.”
Post-presentation discussion centered on concerns about environmental equity that comes from the cost burdens on small rural communities to protect water assets for beneficiaries outside of the watershed.
According to NSWC, the estimated economic valuation builds a solid case for federal, state and basin-wide investment, coalition-building and policy making.
Another major concern was that conservation measures alone will not resolve this future water availability issue. Additionally, concerns were raised that conservation drip irrigation projects are not allowing for aquifer recharging.
NSWC reported policy discussions are happening at local, state and federal levels, and that the time is ripe to prioritize necessary water actions and projects.
The post-presentation discussion concluded with a desire for proactive local water ecosystem coalition and leadership from among various regional water-dependent industries, municipalities, water managers and watersheds. The goal is to unite, prioritize and mitigate future water availability issues.
McCoun suggested landowners look at their natural resources, soil, water and plant communities on their land. Landowners also need to implement best management practices that keep sediment and pollutants out of the creeks and control non-native invasive plant species, she added.
“It is important that the community understands the value of their watershed,” McCoun said. “We are all here because of the river and the many resources it provides. We must work together to manage it for its many diverse uses.”
For more information, call NSWC at 503-930-8202 or e-mail the council at council@northsantiam.org. The full ECONorthwest report, “Economic Importance of Water in the North Santiam,” can be accessed at http://northsantiam.org.
