c/o Deschutes County CDD
Environmental
Health Division
117 NW Lafayette Ave.
Bend OR 97701
(541) 617-4713
Fax: (541) 385-1764
Project Coordinator:
Barbara Rich
BarbaraR@co.deschutes.or.us
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Click
here for the Groundwater
Protection Project
A new program working to protect the drinking water supply for south
Deschutes County
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Background
Groundwater quality in the La Pine
area of southern Deschutes County is at risk of nitrate
contamination from onsite sewage treatment system discharge to
groundwater. Nitrate concentrations detected in groundwater
indicate that degradation of groundwater quality is in process in
the densely developed areas. Most onsite systems in the
region are conventional systems located in highly porous and
permeable (rapidly draining) soils with no intervening layer
protecting the underlying shallow aquifer.
The US Environmental Protection
Agency has funded Deschutes County Environmental
Health Division, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and
the US Geological Survey to work cooperatively to address the
issue of groundwater contamination from onsite
systems in south Deschutes County.
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Project Overview
thumbnail of the study area
The primary objective of
the La Pine Demonstration Project was identify ways to protect the La Pine
sub-basin's water quality, including the primary source of drinking water,
while allowing planned development to occur through a holistic approach
using new pollution reducing onsite wastewater treatment systems.
This approach also building on our understanding of how groundwater flows and
what happens to nitrates and other pollutants in the groundwater.
This information will be used to determine the appropriate development density
or pollution loading that can be accommodated by the natural systems in
the sub-basin.
The Project worked included eight major tasks over a five-year period.
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Install new and
retrofit existing systems with 200 or more innovative onsite systems
by a grant and/or low-interest loan program. A subset of these
systems will be monitored intensively for three years as a field test
program for denitrifying treatment systems.
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Establish a regional
monitoring well network of up to 130 wells. This network will
support both the innovative system field test program and the
3-dimensional modeling work.
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Set up an onsite system maintenance structure.
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Develop a funding
program to assist in low-interest loans for onsite system repair
and/or replacement using the appropriate technology.
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Collect and analyze
field data on new and retrofitted onsite systems and from the
groundwater monitoring network. This work directly supports the
innovative system field test program and the 3-D modeling work.
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Conduct laboratory
analytical testing of onsite system effluent and groundwater samples.
This data is used to evaluate the innovative treatment systems and to
develop the 3-D model scenarios.
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Conduct
three-dimensional groundwater flow and nitrate fate and transport
modeling, lot size optimization modeling for nitrate loading
reduction, and identify areas and/or neighborhoods of concern for
development of a comprehensive groundwater protection strategy.
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Prepare quarterly
progress reports and a final project report
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