With new well, Veneta to apply new water rates.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

VENETA - This community is heading into the dry months of summer without a swimming pool but with a much-needed new well on line.

Area residents who decide to run through their sprinklers to stay cool, however, will pay a bit more for the privilege: The city has adopted new, conservation-based water rates effective July 1.

A year after a tight municipal water supply prompted the City Council to consider an outright ban on daytime lawn watering, Veneta has adopted a two-tier charge for water use.

Customers will continue to pay the same base fee of $8 and $1.75 per 1,000 gallons - for up to 10,000 gallons per month. But, after that, the rate will kick up to $2 per 1,000 gallons.

The change won't make much difference to a family with last summer's average monthly water consumption of 11,000 gallons: They'd pay $27.50 per month, just 25 cents more than last year. A household using twice that much water would pay $3 more per month, and one consuming four times as much would pay $8.50 more.

The City Council adopted the conservation-based fees despite a new well coming on line this month off Jeans Road, near Fern Ridge Reservoir. That will be a welcome change from last summer, when the council considered a daytime sprinkling ban, complete with enforcement fines, amid worries that the growing city could run out of water in the event of a wildland fire or other disaster. After a public outcry in which many critics faulted new development, the panel backed down and instead urged voluntary conservation.

Test runs last week showed the new Well 10 producing about 200 gallons per minute, City Engineer Jerry Elliott said.

"We're pretty excited about the new well," Elliott said. The iron level of its filtered water is "about 30 percent less than in our main production well. Our first run shows that we're going to have a better quality product, although it's too early to be sure."

The city is still fine-tuning water chemistry, pump controls and integrating the new well into the rest of the city's water system, he said. Veneta has only two other operating wells, one producing more than 500 gallons per minute, and another producing about 200 gallons. Seven predecessors to Well 10 are no longer operating due to low productivity or quality. Despite being surrounded by wetlands and nearby Fern Ridge Lake, the city's access to underground water is poor.

An 11th well is planned on the Jeans Road site, close enough to Well 10 to use the same filtration system, Elliott said. But, being in the same aquifer, it is also likely to produce only about 200 gallons per minute. Still, the four wells together are expected to produce enough water to meet anticipated growth through 2015, said Community Services Director Margaret Boutell.

As part of state Water Resources Division approval of Veneta's water system expansion, however, the city was required to adopt a water management and conservation plan.

The tiered rates are part of that plan. Other components are a planned brochure advising residents on ways to reduce their water use and a guide for builders on Veneta soil conditions and low-water use landscaping.

The city joins some other area water providers such as EWEB in adopting a system that charges a higher rate when customers exceed a certain level of use. After a basic monthly rate of $7.10 and up depending on pipe size, EWEB charges $1.01 per 1,000 gallons for the first 8,000 gallons; $1.36 per gallon for 8,001 to 30,000 gallons; and $2.33 per gallon for everything above the latter volume.

Other cities, such as Cottage Grove, Creswell and Harrisburg, charge the same rate per gallon regardless of consumption. And nearby Junction City still rewards larger users with smaller rates: City residents pay $1.39 per hundred cubic feet for the first 1,600 cubic feet; the rate drops to 83 cents per hundred cubic feet beyond that.

"Our rate is not set up to encourage conservation," Junction City Public Works Director Jason Knope said. "But we're working on updates to address that."

Meanwhile, Veneta is contracting with the Eugene Family YMCA and nearby Camp Wilani to provide swim lessons and limited recreational swimming as the city designs and constructs a replacement for its undersized, 50-year-old pool. The concrete basin was destroyed last fall when early heavy rains floated it up out of its hole before it could be refilled following repairs. The city will apply an insurance settlement of $300,000 toward a new, regulation-sized pool to be built on the site by next summer.

Swim lessons will be offered at the camp's outdoor pool beginning July 9, at a cost of $25 for city residents and $35 for area rural residents. Family Swim will be available each Saturday from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at a cost of $2 for city residents and $3 for rural swimmers. YMCA swim lessons also will be offered to Veneta residents at a reduced rate of $15 per eight-lesson session, with city-provided transportation at $10 per session.

Registration information is available at Veneta City Hall, 88184 Eighth St., or by calling 935-2191.