Meeting minutes of the October 6, 2004 MRWC meeting
On October 6, 2004 the Marys River Watershed
Council held a public meeting at Philomath City Hall to present "Water Supply
Issues in the Marys River Watershed". The meeting began at 7:00 pm with brief
introductions of those present in the audience. Chuck Lane, Watershed Council
Chairperson, started the presentations off by relating the background of the
Marys River Watershed Council and explaining that the evening's function was
to determine what we needed to do in the future. The Marys River can act as a
barometer as to what is going on in our watershed, since the watershed is made
up of many components, some we understand and some we don't. What happens in
the upland can affect the river. He listed 3 objectives for the evening: 1)
information for the audience; 2) information from the audience; 3)
prioritization of issues. Thom Whittier, from the Watershed Council, made the
next presentation, concerning low flows in the Marys River. He focused on the
USGS gauging station data on the river which ran from 1940-1985 and
2000-present. He pointed out that most low flow dates occur in September (33
out of 48 yrs of record) and that in 1/2 the years on record, the lowest
flows are at 10cfs (instream water rights allotted to protect beneficial uses)
and in 1/4 of the years on record these flows have been below the 10 cfs for
either a few days or up to 2 months. He didn't see any obvious trends.
Watermaster Bill Ferber, from the Oregon Dept. of Water Resources, was the
third speaker He presented alot of information about water rights, reminding
us that all water, both surface and ground water, is publically owned (except
for springs on a piece of property). Both surface and ground water flow, but
ground water flows at a slower rate. He explained the prior appropriation
concept, junior and senior water rights, and how they can be cancelled or
changed. Jared Rubin, from Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality, was the next
speaker. He is the Willamette Basin Coordinator and explained the relationship
between water quality and water quantity, and the regulatory framework for
whether a stream is meeting standards of the Clean Water Act. He explained
that some parameters (for example, temperature and dissolved oxygen) are
listed under section 303 (d), while others, such as flow modification, are
listed in a separate (section 305 (b)) in the integrated report. Listings in
either section can lead to a stream being considered water quality limited.
Steve Mamoyac, the district fish biologist from the Oregon Dept. of Fish and
Wildlife, gave the last presentation and discussed the fish species found in
the Marys River Basin. There are many species present, including exotics, but
the Cutthroat trout , a boadly distributed resident or fluvial population, was
the dominant species in the basin and also Spring Chinook yearling smolts are
present en route to the ocean. He also explained the flow needs of fish, water
depths, velocity, and also discussed water rights. After the presentations, a
period of questions from the audience followed, addressed to various speakers.
After that, specific issues were identified that the audience thought were
important, and these were written down on sheets of paper taped to the walls.
Each member of the audience was given 3 blue dots to place next to the issues
they thought were most important. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm.