Due to summer population expansion, both to tourists and second homeowners, the City receives slightly higher wastewater flows in the summer rather than the winter. Although peak dry weather flows and peak wet weather flows are comparable, the change in loading causes operational challenges unique to coastal tourist destination cities. To further complicate the City’s struggles, their permit is written without a mixing zone. Although they were originally allowed to claim tertiary treatment in a wetland, DEQ has since required them to meet permit requirements at “end of pipe”.

Civil West worked with the City to identify infrastructure and operational deficiencies, and then developed a capital improvement plan to maintain permit compliance while keeping as much of the existing system in operation. This included proposing weatherproofing both the headworks and disinfection facilities to extend the useful life of critical equipment. Civil West also designed a unique low-flow weir to allow the City to meet permit requirements of being able to measure all flows to within 10% of actual flow values. The contract was amended to include additional project evaluations and a rate study requested by the City.

CWE assisted the District with acquiring grant funds for the update and later for an OHA required Seismic Risk Assessment and Mitigation Plan. Water resource planning involved the thorough evaluation and consideration of each of the components of a water system: Water Rights, Supply (Source Delivery Capacity), Quality, Storage, and Distribution. A new, comprehensive water model was created to evaluate water service to the newly merged Wilson River Water District and in anticipation of evaluating water service to other neighboring water districts. A detailed District-wide Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) was created. CWE is presently involved with securing project funding (FEMA and other sources) for the identified Priority Project #1 – a seismic resilient interconnection between the north district (old Wilson River Water District) and the south district (original Fairview Water District).

The City provides a variety of public services to the community including fire and police services, and public infrastructure services. The City owns and operates these services out of a number of buildings in the community. The buildings vary by use, age, condition, style, and other parameters. Civil West evaluated 18 facilities under criteria including structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, general condition (architectural), water intrusion, and others. Our report summarized the status of existing facilities and identified deficiencies to help the City plan for maintenance and improvements. Ultimately, the recommendations for needed updates and repairs and estimated costs for the proposed improvements will be compiled into a Building CIP and schedule to remedy identified deficiencies.

The City relies upon wastewater facilities that are largely WWII vintage. Located adjacent to the City is a large landfill operated by Republic Services, which produces a significant leachate stream due to rainfall, groundwater, and leakage. Currently, Republic Services trucks all leachate to Corvallis, Albany, or Salem for treatment and disposal.

Civil West worked with the City of Adair Village and Republic Services to plan a facility capable of treating both the City’s municipal wastewater and the landfill leachate. For Republic Services, this would eliminate hauling costs and liabilities, and reduce treatment costs. The City would gain a large industrial customer who would help pay for a significant portion of the capital and operating costs of a new facility. In the end, both parties will benefit from the joint facility.

Civil West developed a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) that evaluates the condition of the City’s wastewater collection system and provides preliminary engineering recommendations for improvements to the collection system pipe network and influent pump station. This data will be used to develop a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that addresses issues in the collection system pipe network and with the influent pump station located at the wastewater treatment facility.

Portions of the PCWD water treatment were destroyed and the storage tanks were jeopardized due to the 2020 Echo Mountain Fire. Emergency money was given to PCWD to get their system up and functioning in short order. The fire exposed some serious defects in the existing water system. Included in the flow of financial support was funding from Business Oregon SIPP program to prepare an update to the water system master plan.

The updated water master plan included the thorough evaluation of the five components of a water system: Panther Creek surface water supply, surface water rights, water quality (treatment), storage, and distribution. The master plan documented water system deficiencies and prepared a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The master plan was used to get several million dollars of congressional state allocations for extensive improvements to all components of the system.