Florence hopes to find solution to water woes.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

FLORENCE - The City of Rhododendrons is getting thirsty.

As the sun beats down across the dune-bedded sandscape, the lawns are drying out, the sprinklers are coming on, the city's wells are emptying, and another season of water troubles begins in Florence.

Or does it? City leaders promise that this season could mark the end of the problems that have plagued this coastal town for years.

A boost in population, new water testing regulations and a fallout with the nearby Heceta Water District in 2000 left the city relying on its own limited system of drawing water from dune wells during the summer months.

But last month, the city struck a deal with the water district that signaled a new era of cooperation between the once-feuding governments, and a long drink of water that could quench the city's thirst until it finishes a current well-drilling project this fall.

"In the next several years, we will be able to handle the current development and population of Florence," said Mayor Alan Burns. Still, he added, "We cannot sit around and wait, because development is coming, and before you know it, we will be caught behind the 8-ball."

But those monitoring the daily amount of water that Florence buys from Heceta worry that securing enough water to meet today's needs is short-sighted.

With the seven wells Florence is currently using, the city has produced up to 1.8 million gallons in a day. In the off-peak seasons, the city uses about 750,000 gallons a day. In the summer, the need can triple, to more than 2 million gallons daily, which requires the city to turn to Heceta for water.

As long as Heceta has the water to sell, that arrangement works out fine. But it's not cheap.

Florence used to buy water from the district for 75 cents per thousand gallons.

That price went up a decade ago when the federal government required more stringent treatment methods.

Initially, the plan was to build a joint treatment center, shared by the city and the district.

But political head-butting - and fear of lawsuits from a landowner on the lake from which Heceta draws water - nixed the arrangement.

The result was that Heceta built a $2.9 million water filtration plant and bumped up customer rates to $1.40 per thousand gallons. That's what the city of Florence pays, too.

The problems will arise, critics say, when Heceta runs out of water to sell or when the dune wells, which have a life span of only five to seven years, dry up.

That day may be closer than many think.

Although Heceta has acquired the water rights of up to 4 million gallons a day from Clear Lake, the Lane County Commission permits the district to pull out only 1 million gallons.

That, says Heceta manager Mike Kendoll, is because Clear Lake resident Aaron Jones has threatened lawsuits if the water district draws too much from the lake.

"He feels it's his lake, and it's not," Kendoll says.

Jones says he's won more than a dozen lawsuits on the issue over the years, but he wouldn't say why he opposes more water to be drawn from Clear Lake.

"We've conducted ourselves as a partner with the government," Jones said. "We get along fine with the city; neither us nor the city particularly gets along with Heceta Water District."

The county, which has some authority here because Heceta's pipeline crosses county property on the way to Clear Lake, set the limits because lowering the lake levels can impact fish habitats, county Commissioner Anna Morrison said.

Heceta's new filtration plant, which was dedicated Wednesday, has the capacity to pump 1.2 million gallons a day, which works fine for now, since the county's limit is 1 million. In emergencies, the county will likely approve an extra 200,000 gallons.

But the demand from Heceta's customers is growing, and if Florence's new wells don't meet the city's needs in the coming years, it could be back to the district for more water.

Kendoll thinks getting more from Clear Lake is the answer.

Jones and the county commissioners "think we're going to drain the lake like a bathtub," Kendoll said. "That's absurd. It's a 150-acre lake. A quarter-inch of water is a million gallons. Water comes into that lake and goes out. We take a little bit out. They feel like it belongs to them.

"It belongs to the people of Oregon. It's designated as a drinking source."

As water demand in the city continues to grow - 12 percent to 15 percent from 2001 to 2002, some estimate - even the new wells could dry up before too long.

Dave Franzen, a local businessman who's tracked the water issue since the city broke off its agreement with Heceta in 2000, said the city bought 217,000 gallons of water from Heceta on Wednesday.

"Heceta isn't going to be be able to sustain us at the demand we have," he predicted.

Some say Florence's water problems have loomed for years, and the city has simply failed to plan for the increased need.

Franzen and resident Dick Walker say the city should either be drilling more wells now or looking for a new source of water, like a lake, to pull from.

"It's no big deal (as long as) Heceta continues to sell to us," Walker said. "But if demand keeps increasing, we 're going to have to look for new ways to get water."

Burns says there are plenty of solutions, including two new well permits that the city will gain by annexing land from the Ocean Dunes Golf Course, a process begun Monday night when the city decided to include the area in the urban growth boundary.

But how bad the city's problems gets depends on how much it grows.

"Growth is the unknown," Burns said.