(RHODODENDRON) – The December storm that rolled through the Mountain
community took a toll on the drinking water in Rhododendron the first week of
January.

Following the heavy snowfall came a warming trend and 7-8 inches of rain to
usher in the New Year. This spurred David Jacob, the Rhody water master, to
check on the Head Works and he noticed that Henry Creek – Rhody’s water
source – was running very high, very fast and mighty dirty, according to
Rhododendron Summer Home Association President Steve Graeper.

The sand filters were unable to handle the heavy sediment in the water.

"The combination of the very dirty source water and a very high demand (due
to the holiday), caused our system to be consuming more water than the
system was producing," Graeper said. "As a consequence the 100,000-gallon
storage tank was rapidly draining down."

When Jacob assessed this draw-down rate at 1 p.m., New Year’s Day, he
calculated the system would be without treated water by 10 p.m. that
evening. He immediately notified Graeper and the RSHA Board called an
executive session.

"The decision was, do we let the system drain down and shut off water to all
customers when the tank was empty and until the tank could be filled with
treated water – a time frame that was an unknown – or do we issue a boil
water order and continue to supply untreated water to our customers,"
Graeper said. "I made the decision to issue the boil order."

That decision was made at 1:15 p.m. and officials immediately swung into
action.

Jacob printed more than 350 boil water orders for distribution. Seven
volunteers rallied at Mt. Hood Food and General at 4 p.m. and set out –
despite the snow pack, rain and cold – and successfully delivered the notices
to all 350 member households and businesses served by the water system –
by 7 p.m.

Noryne Robinson was one of the recipients.

"We received really great notice," Robinson told The Mountain Times. "A board
member and a volunteer brought notices around to the neighbors, we
received an e-mail, we had a phone call to see if we could help pass the word,
and they put up signs at the entrances to the neighborhood."

Because of the weather, melting snow pack, rain storm and the continued
high turbidity of Henry Creek the association was mandated by the state to
keep the boil water order in effect until the entire distribution system could be
purged and filled again with treated water.

In the meantime, the Robinsons and others were dealing with the situation.

"There were no problems for laundry and showers, the inconvenience was
mostly with doing the dishes," Robinson said. "I usually had to boil two big
pots of water each day, one for dishes and the other for drinking and cooking.

It was hard not to do what is habit. You had to think so you didn’t just
automatically stick your tooth brush under the faucet, or wash an apple ... We
were just thankful we were not like some people that had water flooding their
homes or landslides washing them away."

Still, there was the untreated water.

"The water looked fine," Robinson said. "But at first when I would run the hot
water it smelled like dirt."

Finally, on Jan. 13, the Jacob’s water sample passed muster with the State
Drinking Water Program and the boil water order was lifted.

Again, the volunteers got the word out.

"We were informed that we no longer had to boil water when we received an
e-mail (on the 13th), had a notice on our door and the signs had been
changed to say that the water was safe to drink," Robinson said.

"They did a great job of notifying everyone at the beginning and the end."

Spearheading the "great job" effort were Merv and Barbara Novinger, Dan and
Sheri Holm, Jacob and his wife Becky, and Darren Miller.