Detroit Lake drawdown bad news for Stayton water, sewer

STAYTON, Ore. (KOIN) — Some cities are staring down a future without water as the Army Corps of Engineers prepares to drawdown Detroit Lake next fall.

The corps is planning the drawdown to help an endangered fish species that they said is at risk without intervention. They are also drawing down the lake to end hydropower production at the dam. But city leaders in Stayton said the drawdown is bad news for them as their main water source, the North Santiam River, flows out of the lake.

Stayton City Council President Steve Sims said drawing down the lake so low will expose more sediment that the water will pick up. If too much sediment gets in the city’s filtration system the city would go without water and sewer, but that’s not all.

“There are no fire hydrants that would operate, so we wouldn’t have any ability to fight fires with our water system,” Sims said. “It’d have to be water trucks only, and we’d have to fill up somewhere else.”

The city could pretreat their system, a project that Sims said could cost $20-30 million. But he said the city has only spent $13 million on their system over the last two years, and they do not have the kind of money for a pretreatment project now. Without help from somewhere, the project’s cost will get passed on to the residents.

“The water portion of our bill, we’re doing some math, is about $40 a month for the average customer, and we’re talking adding $60,” Sims said. “So that would be $100 a month just for the water. That doesn’t include sewer rates, either. So we’re talking a pretty significant increase for the average customer.”

Andria Allmond with the Army Corps said in a statement, “We are committed to working closely with local governments, water utilities, and residents to mitigate the impacts of this drawdown.

“We understand the urgency of maintaining clean, reliable water supplies and are actively collaborating to ensure that human needs are not overlooked in our efforts to restore ecological balance.”

“We would have to know exactly what steps the Army Corps has taken each step of the way with the drawdown, where they are,” Sims said. “And we’d like to see a slow draw down rather than a very rapid drawdown that would lower the turbidity.”

Sims said the city has not gotten a formal response from the Army Corps. But he said city leaders are working with their state senator and representative to find a path forward.