Published: Siuslaw News, Wed. January 17, 2018

GUEST VIEWPOINT by Susie Navetta and John Stead Woahink Lake Association Board Members

The history and hope of Woahink Lake

While all water belongs to the public, persons seeking to use water need to obtain authorization from the Oregon Water Resources Department (WRD), unless the source is a municipality. WRD's mission is to serve the public by practicing and promoting responsible water management.

Woahink Lake has received a great deal of recent well-deserved attention. Located 2.4 miles south of Florence , its surface is 38 feet above sea level. It is 74 feet deep, about 36 feet below sea level - the deepest lake on the Oregon Coast .

The name, Woahink is probably is an anglicized form of a Suslaw Native word on survey maps going back to 1857. The surveyor hired Native helpers from Fort Umpyua who provided the indigenous name.

Woahink Lake , was formed long ago by migrating coastal sands. Its drain, Woahink Creek, flowed west, across land destined to be part of Highway 101. To avoid constructing a bridge, a dam, raising the lake level approximately seven-feet, was created over which vehicles could travel. Creek flows were rerouted through an outlet-control-structure (OCS) into a hand-dug-ditch, useable as long as the OCS is maintained and the lake is kept at a certain and definite level, as authorized by a 1939 easement.

Should the state abandon the OCS, or fail to properly maintain it, the easement is automatically terminated and the land reverts back to the property owner.

There is no problem with water withdrawal. Woahink Lake can supply enough water to serve the area. Ground water discharge as subsurface water infiltration, maintains lake level and stream flow; seasonal water level fluctuation is around 1.5 feet per year and lake turnover is 1.2 years.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) memorializes discussions and actions taken between Dunes City and the State of Oregon to resolve water right problems regarding use of water from the lake and its OCS. The MOU indicates that ODOT quitclaimed its interest in the OCS to the property owner who intends to quitclaim his interest to Dunes City .

The city has taken no action has regarding the MOU.

Woahink Lake is managed by five state. agencies and Dunes City, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife, who determined minimum flow rates for Woahink Creek; the Department of Human Services, which regulates public water systems and administers the federal Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water treatment requirements; the Department of Environmental Quality, which monitors water quality degradation; the Division of State Lands, which authorizes use of land under water (the lake bottom); and the Water Resources Department (WRD), which administers water use with impartiality of interest, and in a consistent and coordinated manner.

Dunes City holds six different water right permits. The two oldest permits make enough water available to supply a population of 25,000. The first permit, approved in 1969, proposed a water supply system to pump up to 1.4 cfs (cubic feet per second) from Woahink Lake for domestic use. The second permit, approved in 1979, authorized up to 1.5 cfs from Woahink Lake for municipal use.

The third permit, issued in 2005, authorized the use of Woahink Lake for storage of up to 419 acre-feet of water from Woahink Creek for "multiple purposes" from October 1 through July 31 of each year.

The fourth permit, issued in February, 2005, authorized the construction of a reservoir and storage of up to 410.0 acre-feet of water for multiple purpose [ sic].                                     -

The fifth permit, also issued in February of 2005, authorizes use of the stored water for creek flow augmentation.

Finally, the sixth permit, issued in December 2005, sub-allocated WRD's responsibilities to Dunes City by adding 216 points of diversion to the City's 1968 permit.

Dunes City thus controls the domestic use of water from Woahink Lake; requiring that citizens who do not have water rights sign up for its "Shared Domestic Water Supply Program", at an initial cost of $500.00 plus $100.00 annually.

We hope that this helps clarify the state of Woahink Lake , its history and the permits and approvals that were put in place to guide its future.