I went out on site yesterday evening. Coleman is back up and watering Section 1 with river water. Apparently they had a break and made a repair to his river water line. I also stopped by the culvert and saw no water crossing at this time. I was informed today that his hand lines are crossing the ditch line to the head waters so I assume there will be water in the crossing on Mathias today.
Also, we ran into a second coliform hick-up and cannot catch a break. A total coliform count came back from yesterday’s sample at 299, all red colonies. I’m assuming this is due once again to the high temperatures from last week and we have algae again in the system. We have stopped irrigating a Coleman ranch immediately.
Jason ran an Oxidase test as well. The test came back purple which means there is NO bacteria found in the total coliform count.
Moving forward, the lagoons are at high levels, Lagoon 1 – 11 feet and Lagoon 2 – 12 feet. We are shocking the system with Chlorine to clean up the coliform. We are also continuing to irrigate at the plant at this time. With the high levels in the ponds, our hands are tied to keep water moving. Please let me know your thoughts.
We are still moving forward with implementing irrigation at Lagoon 1. My goal is to have an Agenda item to council within the next 30 days.
Regards,
Jennifer Cline, P.E.
City of Molalla
Public Works Director
O: 503.759.0218
F: 503.829.3676
From: Christine Hein [mailto:CHein@ringbenderlaw.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 3:06 PM
To: Jennifer Cline <jcline@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: Dan Huff (dhuff@cityofmolalla.com) <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>; J.W. Ring <JWRing@ringbenderlaw.com>; Phillip Bender <PBender@ringbenderlaw.com>; Mark Strandberg <MStrandberg@ringbenderlaw.com>; Fasth, Bill (bfasth@BrwnCald.com) <bfasth@BrwnCald.com>
Subject: RE: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
Jennifer- Below is the response we recommend. Please confirm with interns and Jake that this statement is absolutely accurate before transmitting, though. Hopefully DEQ will leave this issue alone. I do think it is advisable not to use that section at all unless absolutely necessary, though- and then only If you have personally seen that the header is fixed.
*******************************************************************************************
Dear David- City staff did not observe water from irrigation activities flowing into the drainage at any time and therefore cannot confirm the source of the water you saw. We can only confirm that when we went to observe the area after shutting off water to the lines in that section there was no runoff.
Christine L. Hein
Ring Bender LLLP
Direct: 503.964.6726
Cell: 503.314.0958
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
From: Jennifer Cline [mailto:jcline@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 9:49 AM
To: Christine Hein
Subject: RE: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
Hi Tina,
Just checking in to see if Jeff has a suggested response to David Cole on his last email?
Jennifer Cline, P.E.
City of Molalla
Public Works Director
O: 503.759.0218
F: 503.829.3676
From: Christine Hein [mailto:CHein@ringbenderlaw.com]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 2:53 PM
To: Jennifer Cline <jcline@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: RE: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
Thanks. The more details we can get here, the better.
Christine L. Hein
Ring Bender LLLP
Direct: 503.964.6726
Cell: 503.314.0958
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
From: Jennifer Cline [mailto:jcline@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 2:44 PM
To: Christine Hein
Cc: Dan Huff
Subject: RE: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
Yes you are correct, but I have to wonder where are the pictures of the other side of the culvert from David? Did it actually make it through the culvert to the Creek? James and Nikki may have crossed the street to see nothing coming out. I will look into that as well.
Also I’m headed out to do a site visit of our construction project. I will swing by the Creamery Creek culvert to check the current irrigation as well.
Jennifer Cline, P.E.
City of Molalla
Public Works Director
O: 503.759.0218
F: 503.829.3676
From: Christine Hein [mailto:CHein@ringbenderlaw.com]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 2:34 PM
To: Jennifer Cline <jcline@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: RE: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
This is what I was worried about. Hang tight while I talk with Jeff so we can craft a careful response. Unfortunately, if your staff observed that runoff was no longer flowing into the drainage after you shut off the irrigation, it can probably be deduced that the broken equipment is what was causing the runoff to begin with, which means we have a problem.
Christine L. Hein
Ring Bender LLLP
Direct: 503.964.6726
Cell: 503.314.0958
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
From: Jennifer Cline [mailto:jcline@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 2:26 PM
To: Christine Hein
Subject: FW: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
More to respond to.
Jennifer Cline, P.E.
City of Molalla
Public Works Director
O: 503.759.0218
F: 503.829.3676
From: COLE David [mailto:COLE.David@deq.state.or.us]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 2:28 PM
To: 'Jennifer Cline' <jcline@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>; Jason Clifford <jclifford@cityofmolalla.com>; Jake Ehredt <jehredt@cityofmolalla.com>; 'Christine Hein' <CHein@ringbenderlaw.com>; YELTON-BRAM Tiffany <YELTON-Bram.Tiffany@deq.state.or.us>; HEINS Pat <Heins.Pat@deq.state.or.us>; COLE David <COLE.David@deq.state.or.us>
Subject: RE: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
Hello Jennifer. Thanks for the timely information about the changes to irrigation practices at the Coleman Ranch North site.
Regarding DEQ’s inspection on 7/7/15, did your field crew indicate that the broken head allowed the treated wastewater to enter the drainage and account for the water we saw at the northwest corner of the property?
From: Jennifer Cline [mailto:jcline@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 1:58 PM
To: COLE David
Cc: Dan Huff; Jason Clifford; Jake Ehredt; 'Christine Hein'
Subject: Irrigation change at Coleman Ranch (8/3/2015)
Hi David,
I am writing to update you on several issues related to Section 1 of the Coleman property.
First, we wanted to follow up on your 7/8 site visit observations. City personnel inspected the irrigation handline being used in Section 1 of the North Coleman property immediately after speaking with you in the field and observed that there was a broken head (where the handline attaches to the main irrigation line). City staff immediately shut off irrigation to the handline in that vicinity. Once this action was taken, City staff inspected the area and confirmed that there was no water from the broken irrigation line flowing into the drainage. The City has not irrigated Section 1 of North Coleman since the day you were out, and will not do so until it receives written confirmation from Coleman that the header at issue has been fixed. In addition, we have included a requirement in the irrigation compliance checklist for that area that City staff shall visually observe the area any time it is irrigated by the City (including checking equipment regularly) to ensure that no recycled water is running off into the drainage.
Second, I was notified today that Coleman began irrigating Section 1 on the north side with river water from the Molalla River under his private rights this morning. There is a check valve that separates his private river irrigation line from our recycled water lines. Prior to the startup, Jake Ehredt was on site to verify the check valve was closed and no recycled water flowed to the hand lines in Section 1. This test was conducted while we were irrigating other areas of Coleman’s fields. Jake next verified that when Coleman started his river water irrigation system, water began pumping to and flowing from the hand lines in Section 1. As of now Coleman is only planning to irrigate Section 1 to green the pasture up for his calves. He informed Jake he will be operating the hand lines in Section 1, 24 hours a day. We wanted to let you know about this in case you observe or hear reports about run-off in that area so you can be assured it is not connected with City irrigation activities.
If anything changes with Coleman’s irrigation location or if the City begins irrigating in Section 1 again, I will notify you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Regards,
Jennifer Cline, P.E.
Public Works Director
117 N Molalla Ave.
PO Box 248 *
Molalla, OR 97038
O: 503.759.0218
F: 503.829.3676