DHS and DEQ

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Drinking Water Protection and Land Use Planning

• DHS and DEQ
• Drinking Water Protection Teams

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Importance of Drinking Water Quality to the
Community

• Contributes to the long-term viability of the
  community
• Protects public health
• Protects economic health
• Reducing the need for costly treatment in the
  future
• Attracting new residents
• Attracting new businesses

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Keys to Adequately Maintain a Safe Public Water
Supply

• Operation of the Water System
• Operator Training
• Routine Water Quality Monitoring
• Water Treatment (if necessary)
• Emergency Response/Contingency planning
• Protection of the Resource

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Protecting a Communitys Source of Drinking Water

• Recognition of the resource
• Recognition of the connection between land use
  activities and water quality
• Recognition of the vulnerability of drinking
  water
• Identification of the appropriate tools for the
  community to use to protect the resource
• Implementing management strategies

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Drinking Water Protection

• 1986 Amendments to SDWA
• States directed to develop a Wellhead Protection
  Program that provides guidance for communities to
• Delineate the groundwater resource (WHPA)
• Inventory potential contaminant sources
• Develop management plan
• Oregon plan approved in 1996 Voluntary, locally
  developed plans
• Cost prohibitive for most communities

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Drinking Water Protection

• 1996 Amendments directed states to provide
  protection tools directly to communities
• Source Water Assessment Program
• Tells the community where its drinking water is
  coming from and identifies the risks to its
  quality
• Addresses both groundwater and surface water
  systems
• Helps communities make informed decisions,
  balancing economic needs with future drinking
  water quality
• www.deq.state.or.us/wq/dwp/dwphome.htm

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Source Water Assessments

• Delineation
• Groundwater Identification of the land area
  above the well or springs capture zone (DHS)
• Surface Water Identification of the subwatershed
  area above intake (DEQ)
• Inventory of Potential Contaminant Sources
• Determination of the susceptibility of the
  drinking water source to the PCSs
• Task is largely completed over 2,100 reports
  have been issued, including to most communities

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Developing and Implementing Protection Strategies

• How do we focus our effortswhat are the more
  important issues?
• How do we develop a plan that is right for our
  community? What kind of strategies will work
  here?
• How do we implement the plan? How do we know
  its working?

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Application of Source Water Assessments to Land
Use Plans

• Using Available Information to help make Land Use
  Decisions

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Source Water Assessments and Land Use Planning

• Need for communities to make difficult decisions
  regarding competing land uses often without
  sufficient information.
• Collection of new data difficult because of
  diminished resources.
• Common in many small communities that the only
  information they have regarding their resource is
  location of the well and pumping characteristics.

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Hypothetical Community with Single Well

• Three potential industry sites (o)
• Which one to choose?
• Absent other info, choose furthest away
• Add direction of groundwater flow
• Add drinking water protection area

o
X Well
o
o
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What Kind of Information is Available

• Identification of the Drinking Water Protection
  Area
• Surface water sources
• Based on topographic boundaries, or
• Time-of-travel for water to move through the
  basin
• Groundwater sources
• Direction of groundwater flow
• Aquifer characteristics
• Identify the next 10-15 years supply of
  groundwater
• Maps have been distributed, also available as GIS
  layer

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Surface Water Protection Area
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Oregon drinking water source areas for surface
water intakes
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What weve learned from surface water assessments

• Surface Water Watersheds include multiple PWSs
• Surface Water Watersheds contain many different
  stakeholders
• Watershed headwaters for many PWSs are in
  forested land
• Sensitive areas cover a significant portion of
  the watershed

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Sensitive Areas for SW

• Characteristics
• Setbacks 1000 from centerline of water body,
  includes all perennials
• High soil erosion potential (NRCS)
• High permeability soils (alluvium mapped by USGS
  or others)
• High runoff potential (Class D soils)
• Landslide hazard areas

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Procedures for Delineation Groundwater

• Identify that part of the aquifer that supplies
  water to the well or spring
• Site-specific parameters
• Radius a function of time
• Project to the surface

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Groundwater Protection Area
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Oregon Drinking Water Protection Areas from
Groundwater Sources
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What weve learned from groundwater assessments

• 347 (55) of our CWSs have at least one
  source-related characteristic that rates as
  highly sensitive
• General categories of highly sensitive
• Aquifer character
• Ease in which water can move from the surface to
  the aquifer
• Chemical detection at the source
• Coliform in the source water
• Well construction issues

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What weve learned from groundwater assessments

• Aquifer Character/Ease of Movement
• Many systems use shallow unconfined aquifer
• 255 (39) CWSs have 392 sources lt100 feet
• 144 (22) CWSs have 209 sources lt50 feet
• 58 (9) CWSs have a high infiltration potential

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Identifying Aquifer Sensitivity Nature of the
Aquifer

• Unconfined Aquifer
• Nothing to prevent downward movement of water and
  potentially contaminants
• Local Recharge from area in immediate vicinity of
  well

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Nature of the Aquifer

• Confined Aquifer
• Low permeability layers may prevent downward
  movement of water and contaminants
• Recharge may be some distance from well

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Alluvial Aquifer Valley Fill

Stream
Alluvium
Bedrock
Bedrock
High yield High/Local recharge rate
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Bedrock Aquifers

• Fractured bedrock
• Water in cracks
• Low/High yield
• Low/High recharge rate
• Dry holes
• Layered volcanics
• Water between flows
• High yield
• Low recharge rate

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What weve learned from groundwater assessments

• 116 (24) community water systems have no well
  report for at least one source
• Older than 1960?
• Cannot evaluate well construction
• Standards used?
• 171 (35) additional CWSs have sources with
  inadequate well construction
• Casing seal

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Sensitivity Inadequate Well Casing Seal
Water

• Too small of annular space
• Incorrect method of emplacement
• Incorrect materials, e.g., drill cuttings
• Insufficient sealant to fill annular space
• Inadequate depth to isolate or protect aquifer

Slab
Casing Seal
Casing/Liner
Bore Hole
Screen/Perforation
Pump
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Drinking Water Source Sensitivity Analysis
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Sensitive Aquifer Areas
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What Information is Available?Potential
contaminant sources

• a location where there is any activity having the
  potential to release one or more contaminants
  into water at a concentration of concern
• Database queries (14), field locating in
  sensitive areas, PWS consultations
• 96 separate categories of PCSs
• As of 7/05, over 15,300 PCS locations have been
  identified
• focus must be on HIGHER risks

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Oregons SWA Inventory ResultsSurface Water
SystemsHighest Potential Risks in Sensitive Areas
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Oregons SWA Inventory ResultsGroundwater
Systems Highest Potential Risks in 2-yr TOT
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City of VenetaPCS Locations
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City of MolallaPCS Locations
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Information Available Susceptibility of the
Drinking Water Source

• What is Susceptibility (Vulnerability)
• An estimate of the threat that a particular land
  use activity poses to the drinking water supply
• Determining Susceptibility
• There must be a potential contaminant, and
• The aquifer or watershed must be sensitive
• Overlay PCS and sensitivity coverages

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Susceptibility of the Drinking Water Source City
of Veneta
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Examples of Use

• Preliminary assessments of an issue of local
  concern
• Using Source Water Assessments or other available
  information to help make local land use decisions
• Local stressed because source water assessment
  is written for and about the specific community

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Groundwater Flow Direction
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Groundwater Flow Direction
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Junction City Sewage Treatment Lagoon, Old Well
Locations, etc.
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Falcon Cove Will Septic Systems Impact Water
Quality?
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Planning for Growth Hypothetical Example
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Planning for Growth
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City of DonaldStorm Water Retention
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City of TroutdaleStorm Water Injection Wells
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City of MolallaWorking With Land Owners
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City of Cave JunctionSeptic Tanks or Sewer?
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Port OrfordProtecting the Riparian Zone
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City of Coburg Location of New Well Site
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City of Florence Protecting a Future Wellfield
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City of EugeneResponding to Spills/Releases
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City of MaupinContingency Planning
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Springfield Stakeholders Support of Ordinances
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SWA and DWP Summary

• Source Water Assessments (DHS and DEQ)
• Provide basis for developing protection
  strategies
• Drinking Water Protection Plans (DWPPs)
• Voluntary in Oregon
• Developed locally
• Reduce risk, not necessarily eliminate risk
• Information from SWA/DWP may be useful in
  addressing land use issues

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Drinking Water ProtectionNext Steps - DHS

• Implementation of Drinking Water Protection
  Strategies groundwater systems
• Assess new systems (since June 99)
• Finish TNC assessments (175 need site visits)
• Review delineations every 5 years
• Update modified systems

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DHS Implementation Strategies

• Focus on community systems with local governments
  (including Boards)
• Prioritize based on interest, risks, sensitivity
• Increased public involvement
• Encourage regional strategy development
• Large system with embedded small sys
• Involve local planning authorities
• Integrate SWAs in land use planning
• Communication
• Follow-up letters/surveys, workshops, factsheets,
  etc.

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Funds Available

• Source Water Protection Grants
• C or non-profit NC systems w/SWA
• 200,000 in 2007
• Up to 20,000/PWS/year
• Eligible Activities that reduce risk of
  contamination of DW source
• Not eligible OM of system/treatment
• Regional or local projects
• Scoring system
• Roberto Reyes-Colon [phone]

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What we need from county staff

• GPS locations of new and emergency wells
• Datum (WGS 84, NAD 27)?
• Accuracy
• Ask if implementing protection strategies or
  interested in TA from regional SWAP contact.
• Give them our contact info
• PWS changes on Source Info Pg
• Water usage
• New/modified well (including irrigation?)

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Primary Contacts

• Dennis Nelson, DHS, Drinking Water Program,
  541-726-2587 (21), dennis.o.nelson_at_state.or.us,
  emphasis Groundwater/GWUDI
• Sheree Stewart, DEQ, Drinking Water Protection
  Program, 503-229-5413, stewart.sheree_at_deq.state.or
  .us, emphasis surface water

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DHS SWAP Contacts by Region

• Region 1 Dennis Nelson
• [phone] ext. 21
• Region 2 Tom Pattee
• [phone] ext. 24
• Region 3 Amy Parmenter
• [phone] ext. 23

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Useful Websites

• DEQ http//www.deq.state.or.us/wq/dwp/dwphome
• DHS http//oregon.gov/DHS/ph/dwp/gwater