Meeting minutes of the December 1, 2004 MRWC meeting

The meeting was held at Corvallis's newest Fire Station and began with introductions at 7:05 pm.

Reports from the committees followed:
l) Outreach and Education: no report;
2) Water Quality Monitoring Committee: will meet December 2, 1pm to discuss preliminary results of monitoring along Muddy Creek and the mainstem Marys River around Philomath;
3) Land, Air, and Water Use Committee: Although they didn't formally meet, they are working away;
4) Fish Passage Committee: Noted that water in the creeks/river is so low for this time of year;
5) Steering Committee: a)Chuck Lane reported that they are almost finished with the revised protocol for reviewing grant applications; b) Chuck gave us an update on the potential water supply partnership with Philomath; c) Chuck, Sandra and Karen Harding attended the OWEB biannual meeting. All of them thought it was a good conference and that there were a variety of high quality sessions and interesting people to meet. Among the tidbits they took away with them were the fact that expanding resources are very important, and the importance of listening (as a potential way to solve issues) noting that "time is not the problem, the problem is the problem". There was also advice about diverse sources of funding and the importance of contacting elected officials. It was also mentioned that there was interest by Oregon Trout for an Education Pilot program, partnering the Philomath Interpretive Center to be built at Philomath Industrial Park and the Marys River Watershed Council to reach out to school children.
6)Coordinator's Report: At the OWEB biannual meeting Josh Cerra presented the work being done in the Cardwell Hill area, and Sandra received compliments on the project as well as many follow up conversations about the MRWC action plan. Sandra presented a talk about the business relationship between Tyee Wine Cellars and the Marys River Watershed Council highlighting the importance of involving the business and arts community in watershed council activities and efforts. She highlighted the silent auction (with local business and art work donations), event sponsorship by local businesses and the benefits to the watershed council that come with advertising an event locally. This talk was very well received.  Much of her time at the moment is being spent on the Watershed Council support grant for the 2005-2007 biennium, which is due December 13th

The speaker for the evening was Todd Jarvis, a PhD candidate and CWEST employee from OSU. He told us that since 1955 about 3,000-4,000 new wells have been drilled in the Willamette Valley each year, which totals about 110,000 new wells. Water scarcity is already an issue in the West, (and elsewhere) and while in the past the solution to pollution has been dilution, this is not the case when water gets more and more scarce. Since in our region of the West there is usually a pronounced rainy season, it seems like a good idea to capture this peak in rainfall and store it for later use. Cities such as Salem, Walla Walla and Umatilla are using a conjunctive approach to aquifer storage for later recovery. Deep wells can be drilled if the geological structure is appropriate, and this water stored at depth can later be retrieved with 85% successful return. The exploratory work of drilling such a deep hole (to 2000 ft) may cost between $60K-$100K. Shallow wells and deeper wells in the same area may have different water caracteristics, but his preference was to drill a new hole rather than deepen an existing well. He also discussed Greg Walker and Steve Daniels (OSU) approach to "collaborative learning" where stakeholders learn from each other, through a) assessment of the problem, b) interviews with stakeholders and c)training and skill building sesssions. Many relevant and thoughtful questions were asked and Todd kindly answered them. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm with refreshments kindly provided by Amy Schoener, Council Vice Chair and water quality monitoring committee member.