Mayor Linda Watkin's Corner

October 11, 2023

Carlton Water Costs

When I was first elected mayor, I promised that, while I most likely wouldn’t be able to decrease city water use charges, I would at least help us understand why our water costs are what they are. I’ve tried several times to do this, but apparently still haven’t quite gotten there. So, I’ll try again.

Let’s start with: “Why don’t we just hook in with McMinnville, their water is cheaper?” For the 18 months that we were dredging the Panther Creek Reservoir, and replacing the water line from Panther Creek to the city, our water was being provided through the Mac/Carlton intertie. Did you notice any change in your water costs? In fact, what folks are not aware of is that Carlton City actually picked up some overage charges that you otherwise would have had to pay.

What you currently pay on your water bill covers more costs than just piping the water through to your faucets. No matter what the water’s condition when it comes into our system, the process of sanitizing to comply with current required health and safety standards is costly – and not optional. There’s a whole list of related costs: purification (and cost of all of the chemicals used in that process), delivery-lines maintenance, city staff services which includes staff checking the treatment plant daily, along with regular monitoring of the water quality, and being on emergency call 24/7. 

In addition to monitoring the reservoir levels and condition, the intake and treatment plants’ performance, the holding tanks and the main delivery line that brings the water into the city, our Public Works staff is responsible for maintaining 12 miles of water line, 4 miles of wastewater line & approximately the same amount of stormwater line within the city. These lines will always be the City’s responsibility no matter who we get our water from.

Cities throughout the country deal daily with these same issues, and after three years discussing these concerns with other Oregon cities, I can tell you that EVERY small city in the state is struggling with the same question: How do we maintain safe water and wastewater systems without increasing service rates? So far the alternatives are: 1. Do nothing & hope the systems hold up (they aren’t). 2. Look to our state and federal governments for assistance. But getting state & federal assistance is highly competitive because just about every jurisdiction in the country is facing the same deferred maintenance issues and is also looking for help.

So we’re stuck with the third and most dreaded option: raise rates...because cities are required to provide safe drinking water.

Having said all of that, Carlton has been fortunate to receive a couple of grants that have helped immensely to address our water situation: The two grants from the state legislature which totaled just short of $10 million, were used to dredge our Panther Creek Reservoir and replace the crumbling water delivery line from the water treatment plant into town.

With the shallow, silted reservoir, rainstorms and increased waterflow easily disturbed the water contained in the reservoir….which created a silt-filled waterfeed to the treatment plant. This meant more time and chemical treatment to bring the water up to potable levels. Of course, using more supplies, meant increased supply costs which resulted in more cost to the city, which was passed on to all of us.

The dredging increased the raw water storage capacity in Panther Creek Reservoir to 2,000,000 gallons, while also increasing water quality. And since the dredging, not only is the reservoir capacity increased, the turbidity due to rain/high water disturbance has decreased to the point where it’s hardly an issue.

By replacing the deteriorating main delivery line, the city is conserving over 100,000 gallons of water per day that was draining into the ground from the crumbling pipes.

So, now you’re asking: If we’re saving so much, why are the water bills still increasing? Two reasons: First, inflation. As with everything else, the cost of operations of the water and wastewater treatment plants also increase: supplies increase, outside service costs increase, and employee salaries increase. (Employee salaries btw are pro-rated to all of the projects a staff member works on, and all of our city staff are experts at multitasking: water, wastewater, streets, parks, etc. So no one division carries the full load of any single staff, or any single department.)

The second reason is: Maintenance and repair. As I mentioned earlier, the City of Carlton contains approximately 12 miles of waterline that delivers water to individual residences and businesses; and a comparable amount of wastewater line in addition to stormwater line. As homeowners, you know how this works: The city is responsible for the wastewater line up to your property line. Many of you are also aware of just how old and fragile much of this water and wastewater line is. Remember: In many parts of town the original 100+ year old water or sewer lines are still in use...and it is not a pretty sight! In addition to regular monitoring and maintenance, staff are always repairing or replacing sections of corroded and disintegrating service lines.

The city has Master Plans for the replacement of the water, sewer, and stormwater lines, but what is not in place is the funding to do an organized and complete replacement of those undersized, deteriorating pipes, so there’s a lot of repair & maintenance instead.

Our staff is constantly on the look-out for any reasonable financial assistance that might come up...and bank loans are not one of them. Banks are less than enthusiastic about making infrastructure loans, so cities again have to look to citizens or government grants or loans. And applying for grants is comparable to playing the lottery, but with slightly better odds.

In addition to maintaining your city water and sewer lines, a portion of every water bill goes into an account that is specifically designated for the repair and replacement of our city water and wastewater lines. It’s not the most glamorous or exciting use of funds – it’s like a building foundation: nobody ever sees it, but if you don’t have one, the building isn’t going to stand for very long.

One last comment: There still seems to be some perception that city water fees are being used to fund your new Civic Building. They are not. (See the previous paragraph)

Linda