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Yachats outlines water supply posture, eyes hybrid desalination as supplemental option
Summary
City staff said Yachats has short late-summer drought windows but an existing South Lincoln connection and the water plant provide years of capacity; officials described a hybrid desalination concept as a supplemental, grant-funded option rather than an immediate expansion limiter for housing.
City water staff told residents at a community Zoom on the proposed housing code updates that Yachats has short late-summer drought windows but established contingency sources and plans to pursue longer-term supplies.
"Our window of drought is actually a pretty small window," said Rick McClung, identified in the meeting as the city’s water lead. He told participants that tourists inflate summer demand but that the city has an agreement with South Lincoln Water District that can be tapped in drought years. "The agreement with South Lincoln gives us up to a 100 gallons a minute or 1000000 gallons a month, whichever 1 comes 1st," he said, and the combined capacity with the city plant, he estimated, provides decades of security while the city pursues new sources.
McClung described a hybrid desalination concept that would treat low‑salinity (brackish) water near the existing plant and operate only as a supplemental source when needed. He said the city already has a point of diversion near the plant, adjacent property outside the tsunami zone and a potential pipeline route, making a smaller hybrid plant more economical than a full‑scale ocean desalination facility. "This desalination plant will be supplemental," he said, adding that operations, siting and waste disposal remain issues to resolve.
City staff emphasized funding will likely rely on a sequence of planning and construction grants, together with low‑interest loans if needed. "One grant needs, like, one for discovery, another grant for studies…and then construction grant," McClung said, describing the "grant train" strategy.
Why it matters: residents asked whether new housing (ADUs, duplexes) would worsen shortages. Staff framed desalination and the South Lincoln agreement as tools to manage incremental growth without imposing immediate housing limits, while acknowledging environmental and cost questions remain. The city plans further studies and community sessions on design and ADUs in the coming weeks.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 064; topfinish SEG 246.
