A Review of Dunes City's Water Right Permitting Process Presented during the Council Meeting of February 10, 2011 by John Stead

History

Between May of 1996 and October 1 of 2002, when the Water Resources Department stopped authorizing use of water from Woahink Lake, a total of 19 permits were issued:  Seven were limited to human consumption, (water for drinking cooking and sanitation) all year, eight were limited to human consumption eight months of the year, three were limited to human consumption seven months of the year, and one was limited to heat pump use.  Water Resources Department staff explained that water rights were limited to human consumption as Woahink Lake, tributary to Woahink Creek, is "over appropriated" because flow demands in Woahink Creek are not being met at least 80-percent of the time from April through November [Water Availability Table, Watershed #517].

The Department's decision that water is not available discouraged people from applying for water rights and resulted in problems for developers and realtors who are required by law to explain water availability to purchasers. [ORS 92.090 (4)].

The problem was portrayed as belonging to Dunes City , as the City requires that all lots be served by an approved water supply, [DC Ord. 155.102, 1979, superceded by DC Ord. 155.3.4.3 A. adopted 12/12/06] and the City's lack of a municipal water system.

The fix agreed upon was that people would sign up for use of the City's 1968 permit as it predates Woahink Creek's 1974 instream water right.  Thus 211 points of diversion were added to the City's permit through the Water Resource Department's transfer process.  Water users representing 135 of these points of diversion, paid application fees of $600 each, and are charged an administrative fee of $150 per year.  The other 76 points of diversion represent vacant land water availability, for which applicants paid $150 each and no administrative fees.  To date the City has collected over $200,000 from this program.

The City's water right permit is temporary. Eventually it should be changed into a certificate.  For the conversion, a water rights examiner, if required, could charge $200 to $500 per point of diversion, a range of $42,000 to $105,500 for his part of the process.

Proposed Solution

The Mid-Coast Basin Program classifies Woahink Creek and its tributaries ". . only for utilization of water for domestic, livestock, irrigation of lawn or noncommercial garden not to exceed one-half acre in area, power development and in-stream uses for recreation, wildlife, and fish life purposes" [ OAR 690-518-0010(1)(c)(M)]. 

Since the Water Resources Department and City are required to conform to the this program, [ORS 536.360] the City could ask the Department to rethink its policy and allow the tributaries of Woahink Creek, including in-channel tributaries Woahink Lake and Little Woahink Lake to be used for domestic purposes. Dunes City could get out of the business.  Existing water right holders, including five additional ones from Little Woahink Lake, could apply for supplementary water rights, and out-of-compliance water users and others could obtain water rights for domestic purposes.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

John Stead