It’s dry on the Oregon coast too

The Lower Big Creek Reservoir is one of two leaky reservoirs that supply Newport with water. They will be destroyed by a great earthquake. Even the smallest ones are likely to rip concrete supply lines. The city of Newport is now considering building one large, safer dam on the same landscape so they don’t have to keep pumping water from the Seletz River.

Christian Foden Wensel / OPB

The basic need in any society is water. It’s simple: no water, no town.

So it was a scary surprise recently, when Newport residents learned that their tanks were leaking and in danger of collapsing.

“If we had a subduction earthquake, nine, it would definitely go,” Dr. Ralph Breitenstein recently said of the city’s oldest reservoir.

This facility was built in 1951, using little more than excavators to push dirt through a small ravine and Big Creek Dam. If at any point in time the dam was breached, experts say, more than 280 average-sized swimming pools of water could drop out per second, flooding the community below.

The second earthen dam was built in 1968 and is not the safest.

“If we were hit by three or four crustal earthquakes, we might as well lose water because the water lines from the dam to the hospital are old, brittle, and made of asbestos cement,” Brittenstein said.

Dr. Ralph Breitenstein marks the site of the large new water tower that will be built over the new Newport Hospital.

Christian Foden Wensel / OPB

The water supply is of particular concern to Brittenstein as he is the chief of the Pacific Local Health District. The health district was in the middle of building a new hospital in Newport when Breitenstein learned about the water problem. The hospital now faces a multi-million dollar bill to build a large new water tank.

“What we need to do is have a tank that will run the hospital for a month,” Prittenstein said.

As a critical hospital, Samaritan Pacific Community Hospital needs the equivalent of a month of clean water after an earthquake for everything from cleaning wounds to sterilizing equipment.

But it’s not just hospitals that need water, and it’s not just an earthquake threatening Newport’s supply. Everything from population growth to erratic weather is putting pressure on this coastal community’s water system, Prittenstein said.

“It looks like we’re getting more rain, with those rivers in the atmosphere seen over the past few weeks,” he said. “And we have dry periods in the summer.”

“Our rain is becoming more cyclical. I think that is most likely climate change.”

drought on the coast

Oregonians have talked a lot about drought in recent years, with scientists reporting record drought conditions, and farmers, firefighters and others living with the direct consequences.

When thinking about drought, Newport and the Oregon coast don’t usually come to mind. But last summer, people in Newport and other coastal cities were told not to wash cars and irrigate lawns due to lack of water. Civic leaders in places like Newport are considering potential long-term solutions.

Most of Newport’s water comes from these two reservoirs formed by the Upper and Lower Big Creek Dams, just north of the city.

They are filled in the winter and dried in the summer. When the water gets too low, which it often does, Newport pumps water from the Silitz River.

The system has been in operation for decades. But when the city began building a new water treatment plant a few years ago, engineers found that the soil around the levees was prone to liquefaction. It was also salty and organic – which means it can rot and is unstable.

Spencer Nebel, Newport City Manager, points out the dam is leaking and needs replacing. The hope is that a new facility will mean Newport won’t have to pump water from the Silitz River to meet summer supplies.

Christian Foden Wensel / OPB

On a recent visit to the upper dam, Newport City Manager Spencer Nebel pointed to a large pipe emerging from the facility. He explained how crews had fixed one of the leaks there and said it would need more work next year.

“(I) would hate to make that kind of investment here for a facility we plan to replace,” he said. “But it is a legitimate safety concern. The security of the system is critical to society and to the people who live downstream.”

The city is now planning to build another concrete dam halfway between the older dam.

“If we can build a higher dam and build a bigger basin, it will reduce our dependence on the Seelitz, which is a really important environmental thing here,” Nebel said. “We work closely with the Siletz tribe.”

Historically, the tribes of the Pacific Northwest were often not supportive of government-built dams, due to their tendency to obstruct fish tracks. But Robert Quinta of the Confederate Tribes of the Siletz Indians said pumping water from the Siletz River every summer is really bad for salmon, lamreys, lobsters, and river mussels.

“We had the lowest flow I can remember, and I’ve lived here for nearly 60 years,” Quinta said. “It was warm and scary low. It was like shower water, and we are not used to these kinds of temperatures in our river.”

The construction of a new, larger dam and reservoir at Big Creek means more water can remain in the Seletz River and more fish are likely to survive, Quinta said.

He also doesn’t care much about the fish in Big Creek because, he said, “Big Creek” is a misnomer. It’s not that big and the dam has blocked the fish passage there for 70 years.

“The new concrete dam that is being built will not have any initial impact,” Quinta said. “I don’t think it has been fully designed, but there is a possibility of a fish ladder in the new dam.”

Experts say the entire state of Oregon is becoming less drought-resistant, with fewer cold winters creating the large snowpacks needed to moisten environments during long, hot summers.

The Siletz members around Newport used to spend the entire month of May collecting small nut sticks to make baskets. Spring is now coming so early that the canes are too ripe to be harvested by the end of the month.

Local scaffolder Louis Napoleon fishes trout in Upper Big Creek Reservoir. He understands that the new dam will likely mean higher local taxes. “I think it’s a good idea in the long run. It can also open up business opportunities.”

Christian Foden Wensel / OPB

Motivated by these stories, combined with catastrophic wildfires and the growth of new plants, fried to brittle by early heat waves, cities along the central coast formed a water conservation union.

“We’ve always really had a message of protection,” said Stephanie Read of Lincoln’s Department of Public Works. “But we need to raise his voice,”

Meanwhile, the new $80 million Newport Dam is still years away. And that kind of money means that voters are likely to agree to a bond takeover.

Local fisherman Louis Napoleon, who spins trout in the Upper Big Creek Reservoir, said he would be OK with higher taxes.

“If they have to build it to secure water, you know, in an emergency…I think it’s a good idea in the long run,” he said.

“It can also open up job opportunities.”

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