Board Members present: Patrick Lanning, Ron Farmer, Sandra Bishop, and Dorothy Anderson. Commissioner Henry Masterson was excused.

Others present: Randy Berggren, Tom Buckhouse, Jay Bozievich, Mel Damewood, Marc Anderson, Karl Morgenstern, Dick Helgeson, Jim Origliosso, Marty Douglass, Jim Wiley, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Joe Sams, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder, and a member of the public.

President Lanning convened the Work Session.

WATER SOURCE PROTECTION PROGRAM UPDATE

Dick Helgeson provided a brief outline of the source protection project. He introduced Karl Morgenstern, Drinking Water Source Protection Coordinator.

Mr. Morgenstern provided a presentation on water source protection updates. His presentation focused on the scope of the monitoring program and disaster preparedness/response. He said the goal of the program was to protect the McKenzie River and promote public awareness and stewardship of the watershed.

In response to a question from Vice President Farmer regarding the definition of a storm event, Mr. Morgenstern said it was anytime there was enough rain to produce runoff.

Mr. Morgenstern said the gathered data was being used to compare health based and aquatic toxicity standards as well as calculating pollution loads and trends over time. He noted that not enough data had yet been collected to come up with concrete results.

In response to a question from Vice President Farmer regarding how much of a problem polluted runoff was as it entered the McKenzie, Mr. Morgenstern said it would take an additional year of data gathering to have conclusive measurements.

Mr. Morgenstern noted that the biggest increases in pollutants in water were associated with storm runoff after 72 hours of dry weather but noted that pollutant levels decreased before they were entering the river.

Regarding disaster preparedness/response, Mr. Morgenstern said the goal of the program was to be prepared for events that were unlikely to happen but would cause extensive problems for EWEB's drinking water source. He said the program would increase awareness, cooperation with other agencies, and response capabilities associated with events such as hazardous material spills, acts of terrorism, forest fires, and other natural disasters. He stressed the importance of first responders being able to take immediate steps to neutralize the spill. He noted that the current response system was to use the McKenzie Watershed Protection Plan critical response software system. He outlined the functions of the system for the Board members. He said the idea was to contain a spill and have clean up efforts begun in the first few hours

In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding how a first responder could identify a substance that was spilled, Mr. Morgenstern said shipping papers, substance placards on the trucks, and interviewing employees were initial ways to identify spilled substances.

In response to a question from Vice President Farmer regarding who was ultimately responsible for doing cleanup on spills, Mr. Morgenstern said the incident command system allowed different agencies to plug in as they arrived on the scene with the appropriate agency taking charge as they arrived. He stressed that the software system would allow any responder to know what resources were available locally to deal with an emergency.

In response to a question from Vice President Farmer regarding how the program compared to other programs nationally, Mr. Morgenstern said EWEB was a leader in the northwest as well as the nation as well as being ahead of future federal mandates on the protection of public health.

Vice President Farmer expressed a desire to see the users of pollutants shouldering more of the burden of dealing with pollution loads in local waterways.

In response to a question from President Lanning regarding the use of handheld computers for first responders, Mr. Mogenstern said the handhelds were waterproof hardware that allowed a responder to deal with a spill on scene rather than trying to use a laptop in the rain.

GROUNDWATER PROJECT UPDATE

Jay Bozievich, Senior Water Engineer, provided a power point presentation on groundwater projects. The presentation included drilling and pump test results, water quality test results, computer model results, water rights impacts, mitigation strategies, and a project schedule.

Mr. Bozievich said groundwater had been chosen as a back up because it was the most economical of all options considered for a backup system. He added that groundwater was a proven source of water that was used by adjacent jurisdictions.

In response to a question from Vice President Farmer regarding how far the wells were from the River, Mr. Bozievich said the wells were all within a mile from the river.

In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding whether there were issues of recharging the aquifer, Mr. Bozievich said the question should be where the recharge for the aquifer was coming from. He said that shallow aquifers usually recharged from nearby rivers.

In response to a question from Vice President Farmer regarding the level of drop down that Springfield Utility Board (SUB) and Rainbow Water District could sustain, Mr. Bozievich said there was an unwritten rule of 25 feet. He noted that a draw down of five feet would enable them to make a complaint that EWEB was having a significant impact on their wells.

Dick Helgeson, Director of Water & Steam Divisions, said Rainbow and SUB had been very cooperative in the testing process and were interested in watching EWEB move forward. He noted that they were also interested in mitigation of possible impacts. He said if EWEB could show that there was less than a 50 foot draw down then there would be no real issue since it would not affect their ability to pump from their wells.

Vice President Farmer stressed the need of pro-actively addressing the issue of impacts to shallow wells.

Mr. Bozievich noted that there had been several public meetings for existing well users in the area. He said the utility had been very "up front" with shallow well users. He said that staff was well aware of what it took to be a good neighbor in the community. He noted that a prime way of addressing shallow well impacts was to get those households hooked up to the municipal water system.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

_____________ ______________________________________

Assistant Secretary President