Bend committee reviews $22 million draft stormwater master plan, prioritizes UIC retrofits and service-level work

At its May Watershed Advisory Group (WAG) meeting, city staff and their consultants presented draft recommendations from an update to Bend's stormwater master plan, outlining a capital-improvement program of about $22 million, prioritization of underground injection controls (UICs) for retrofit or removal, and a plan to develop service-level standards that could feed a future rate study.

The draft plan matters because it targets projects and program changes intended to protect the Deschutes River and local groundwater, reduce recurring localized flooding and repair aging stormwater infrastructure. City staff told the advisory group the work will inform a fall city council adoption and the timing and scale of any future funding requests.

Trista Koblowski, project manager for the stormwater master plan update at OTAC, said the update focuses on both drainage and water quality. "This is probably our last meeting where we're going to talk about the stormwater master plan," she told the WAG as staff summarized the recommended capital program and next steps.

The plan update produced three linked outputs the group reviewed: (1) a prioritized capital-improvement program (CIP) with 13 draft project fact sheets, (2) a set of UIC siting and retrofit priorities, and (3) proposed level-of-service options for operations and maintenance that will inform future rate work. Laurie (identified only as City of Bend staff during the meeting) and staff said a draft of the full plan would be available for review in late June or early July and staff hope to present a final plan to council in September.

UIC inventory and priorities

The consultants reported that Bend's stormwater inventory includes roughly 7,000 UICs. They distinguished between conventional dry wells and deeper, "modified"…