Public Notices

Draft surplus letter report for review: City of Creswell

Published Dec. 19, 2013

US Army Corps of Engineers
Portland District

PUBLIC NOTICE
DRAFT
COAST FORK WILLAMETTE RIVER SURPLUS WATER LETTER REPORT
for the City of Creswell, OR

28 Day Notice
Issue Date: December 18, 2013
Expiration Date: January 14, 2014

Interested parties are hereby notified that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District (Corps) has completed a draft surplus letter report for the City of Creswell (City).

The Draft letter report examines if 437 acre-feet of water from joint-use storage in Dorena and Cottage Grove reservoirs is available as surplus for municipal and industrial (M&I) use for the City. The letter report also establishes a methodology for determining the M&I price per acre-foot for storage space from the Corps’ Willamette Basin reservoirs (see Appendix A of the report).

The Draft letter report also includes documentation of a Categorical Exclusion for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and a draft agreement with the City.

Location: The Coast Fork Willamette River lies within the southern-most portion of the Willamette River valley, south of Eugene-Springfield. The mainstem of the Coast Fork is impounded by Cottage Grove Dam at River Mile 29.7. Dorena Dam is located at River Mile 7.5 on the Row River, which flows into the Coast Fork at River Mile 21, just north of the city of Cottage Grove.

Purpose: The purpose of the letter report is to identify whether there is a quantity of joint-use storage available in the Coast Fork Willamette River Subbasin projects that the Secretary of the Army can provide as surplus water to the City of Creswell for municipal and industrial (M&I) use. The storage space would be made available for purchase by the City of Creswell (City) for immediate consumption.

Need: The Willamette Basin is a surface water limited system. The State of Oregon has identified the federal reservoirs in the Willamette Valley Project as the preferred source of new water supply for growing communities and industries. Today, entities requesting to divert surface water for municipal uses in the Coast Fork basin, below Cottage Grove and Dorena Dams, are only allowed to do so from December 1 to April 30 of each year. Surface water diversions for municipal use, located above the dams, are not allowed any time of the year. Although surface water for municipal uses is strictly limited in the Coast Fork sub-basin, water that is legally stored in the reservoirs can be used for any beneficial purpose, including municipal uses, upon approval of a secondary water right permit application by the Oregon Water Resources Department.

Document Location: The draft report can be found on the Oregon Water Resources Department website for the Reservoir Study, at: http://www.oregon.gov/owrd/Pages/mgmt_res_study.aspx
The document will also be posted on the Corps website at: http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Media/Announcements.aspx

Additional Information and Comments: Questions regarding the document or submittal of public comments on this Draft Letter Report should be directed to: Eric Stricklin, Project Management Branch, telephone (503) 808-4757; via e-mail to wbr@usace.army.mil; or at the address below.

District Engineer
U.S. Army Corps of Engineer District, Portland
Attn: CENWP-PM-P/Eric Stricklin
P.O. Box 2946
Portland, Oregon 97208-2946

To become part of the record and to be considered in the decision, comments on this document must be submitted by 5:00pm on Wednesday, January 8, 2014. In your response, please refer to the document title and date. Should no response be received by the above closing date, a “no comment” response will be assumed.