TD Dog River Pipeline is 100 Years Old, Made of Wood, and Leaking
The Dalles Dog River Pipeline which is responsible for bringing 54% of The Dalles water supply is in need of repair. The pipeline currently leaks an estimated 1 million gallons per day during the spring months. This problem is not a new one, the project to replace the pipeline has been in a planning and evaluations phase for almost 10 years. And The Dalles City Council will consider awarding a contract for engineering services for the Dog River Pipeline at an open The Dalles City Council meeting in January or February in 2021 although an exact date of the hearing is unknown at this time.
CCCNews reached out to Dave Anderson, Director of Public Works with the City of The Dalles to give CCCNews the scoop on the current state of the pipeline and what's to come.
The Current State of the Dog River Pipeline
The existing pipeline is over 100 years old and made of wood.
“It is well beyond its planned useful life,” said Anderson, “It has numerous leaks and is experiencing deterioration in some areas. Trees have grown in close proximity to the pipeline and it is vulnerable to damage as trees blow over and roots could dislodge the pipeline.”
The new pipeline is planned to be designed for 100-year service life and could increase the systems daily water diversion from 8 million gallons to 17 millions gallons.
It’s Leaking a LOT of Water
The greatest leakage occurs in the spring when the pipeline is running full. It has been estimated that leakage may be as high as 1 million gallons per day under these conditions which is about 12% of the existing pipeline capacity. The system diverts about 8 million gallons and delivers 7 million gallons.
The amount of leakage that occurs in the spring means that more water has to be diverted from Dog River to meet that purpose than would otherwise be needed if not for the leakage.
In the summer months, the pipeline runs about half full or less and leaks much less.
However, The Dalles relies heavily on the capture and storing of surface water from the pipeline, especially during the lower water levels in the summer months. The pipeline is necessarily used by the City to fill Crow Creek Reservoir in the winter and spring.
WaterWatch has expressed concerns in the past that a new pipeline may lead to the city consuming even higher rates of water each day. 2019 data indicates that the average annual water consumption in The Dalles is about 270 gallons per person per day, or 98,550 gallons a year which is well above national averages. USGS reports that the national average for water use is 80-100 gallons per person per day.
However, according to Anderson, water consumption in The Dalles is on par with water consumption in other arid climate rural communities such as Bend, OR. Anderson also noted that people living in urban areas are also less likely to have yards and gardens to water which brings down the average water usage per person.
Source: Final Bend WMCP, Pictured: Bend OR Average Daily Demand of Water
Source: USGS. Map of the U.S. by state, showing total water withdrawals, 2015
Source: USGS This diagram uses a "cylinder and pipe" layout to show the source (surface water or groundwater) of the Nation's water and for what purposes the water was used in 2015. The data are broken out for each category of use by surface water and groundwater as the source.
Data are rounded and are reported in million gallons per day (Mgal/d).
You can see that although the Nation uses much more surface water than groundwater, groundwater has significant importance for some of the categories. Almost all self-supplied domestic water came from groundwater; over 40 percent of irrigation water was groundwater; and more groundwater than surface water was used for livestock purposes.
What effect does this have on the City?
“Water from Dog River is the highest quality water available to the City,” said Anderson “Therefore, ensuring the reliability of this supply (improving the reliability and resilience of the pipeline) will support the City’s goal of providing high-quality drinking water to City residents.“ To view The Dalles Water Quality Reports click here.
“This pipeline is a critical element of the City’s municipal water supply system as it carries over half of the City’s annual water supply; it’s reliability is essential,” said Anderson.
What is the Environmental Impact?
“There will be environmental benefits from the project to replace the pipeline because it will also install fish passage and screening systems at the intake that don’t currently exist, and the project will install a culvert over a stream where vehicles currently drive through the stream channel,” said Anderson.
The City will also be providing bypass flows in Dog River in the late summer and early fall as a condition of this project which will benefit fish downstream of the pipeline intake. Trees will be removed along the pipeline corridor to allow its construction.
The Dalles Chronicle quoted The Warm Springs Tribe in a 2018 article about the pipeline. The article reported that: “The Warm Springs Tribe said it has treaty rights to fish in the Hood River Basin, which includes Dog River. “Those treaty rights include not only the right to take fish but also to have fish to take,””
View the completed US Forest Service Dog River Pipeline Replacement Environmental Assessment here.
The cost to complete the project is estimated at $9-10 million.
Although the final design of the project has not been completed, it is expected that the cost will be $9-10 million.
The City was awarded a $1 million grant to help build a new Dog River Pipeline in 2018, following its third application for funding from the Water Projects Grants and Loans program administered by the Oregon Water Resources Department as a part of the Water Supply Development Fund. The City is also hoping to receive funding for the project through the Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund. The balance of the funding for the project will come from City water utility rates and system development charges.
Who will complete the project?
Unknown at this time.
The City will advertise a Request for Proposals in the next few weeks to select an engineering firm to design the project. After that, a contract for the construction of the project will be advertised for bid in 2021.
When will the project be completed?
The project is expected to be completed in 2022 or 2023 depending on whether it can be constructed in one summer season or two.
How can the public get involved?
“The project has been in the planning and evaluation phases for over 10 years which has included a lot of public involvement,” said Anderson.
The Forest Service conducted public scoping on the project twice as part of its NEPA analyses and sought public comment on the associated draft Environmental Analysis and draft Decision Notice.
The award of a contract for engineering services will be considered at an open The Dalles City Council meeting in January or February 2021.
And a future contract for the construction of the new pipeline will be considered in another City Council meeting following the selection of the engineering contract.
Lastly, there will likely be public outreach to develop plans to address impacts to recreational forest users during the construction of the project.
To submit public comment or questions about the Dog River Pipeline Project to City Council email:
City Clerk Izetta Grossman igrossman@ci.the-dalles.or.us
To Contact Public Works email: jcorbin@ci.th-dalles.or.us
To Contact Dave Anderson, Director of Public Works email: danderson@ci.the-dalles.or.us
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