News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters citizens are looking at everything from simply spraying the forest floor to irrigating crops of alfalfa to building a golf course or a wildlife sanctuary as uses for the effluent from Sisters' sewer treatment plant.
However, the need to work within Forest Service guidelines may narrow the options for effluent disposal.
The citizen's committee is trying to get its work done by February so that the city can call for construction bids. The committee was originally given till March 31 to come up with a preferred alternative.
The treatment facility land, known as Section 9, still belongs to the Forest Service. The City of Sisters and the Forest Service may trade 160 to 240 acres of land for sewer services, or the city may purchase the land from the Forest Service.
The agency has offered a special use permit so that the city can start construction while an exchange or sale of the land is completed.
If the work starts under a Forest Service special use permit, the acceptable uses for the effluent may be limited.
According to Chris Mickel of the Deschutes National Forest, the environmental analysis (EA) prepared for the sale or exchange of Section 9 addressed spray irrigation of the forest floor as the end use of the effluent.
Mickel, who spearheaded the EA, believes that any other use would require a revision of the EA. A revision carries with it a mandatory 45-day appeals period.
Ted Viramonte, who is facilitating the citizens advisory committee, noted that spray irrigation of the forest floor is probably the easiest and cheapest option and allows for changes in the future.
"If the city determines ... the use of the effluent to just spray the forest floor, that requires the whole 240 acres," Viramonte said. "That also gives them a longer view of alternatives."
"I think what we would do is go ahead and whatever (the committee) decided to do is what we would work toward," said city administrator Barbara Warren.
She said engineer Dick Nored of HGE, Inc. could design future changes into the system.
Yet, Viramonte said the committee wants to find the right alternative, not necessarily just the quickest and cheapest.
"The people sitting around this table are really committed to coming up with the best prioritized list and not taking the easy way out," Viramonte said.
The committee meets each Tuesday night (except on weeks where there is a holiday) at 6:30 p.m. at city hall. The public is encouraged to attend. According to Viramonte, there will be at least one town hall meeting scheduled to gain more public input on effluent disposal alternatives.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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