Deschutes County, Oregon Planning Documents

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Deschutes County : Protection of groundwater resources in the Upper Deschutes River Basin, Oregon
(Deschutes County (Or.), 2008-09-04) Deschutes County (Or.). Community Development Dept.; Deschutes County (Or.)
Deschutes County implemented a groundwater protection program in recognition of the potential for conventional wastewater management practices and additional future growth to pollute groundwater resources in the region and create negative effects on surface water quality. Currently, the region produces high quality drinking water but groundwater investigations have shown water quality declines within the region. The groundwater protection program recognizes four main goals: prevent groundwater pollution levels from triggering a moratorium on future development on legal lots of record; protect the aquifer that provides the only source of drinking water to the residents in south Deschutes County by maintaining compliance with State groundwater quality standards (7 mg/L) and Federal drinking water standards (10 mg/L) for nitrate-nitrogen concentrations; use results from an existing model to create a watershed-scale management system for existing and future wastewater treatment systems; and document decision-making processes, tools and lessons learned as resources for other communities pursuing watershed-scale management of wastewater treatment systems. [From the document]