In the mid-1990's the City of Hermiston and the Port of Umatilla entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to form the Regional Water System (RWS). The RWS utilizes a Columbia River water right held by the Port of Umatilla. A portion of that right (27,000 gallons per minute(gpm)) was dedicated to the RWS and then as part of the formation of the RWS a portion of that allocation (7,000gpm) was given to the City of Hermiston. At this point most of the City's allocation is undeveloped which means there is not capacity to deliver the water to any users.

A few years ago the Port leased most of its unallocated water right to a number of large agricultural interests as mitigation for developing private irrigation rights out of the Columbia River. After developing infrastructure to deliver their new water rights, the agricultural users have returned to the Port to lease additional water.

The proposed lease has three different types of water defined. The type related to the City is called in the lease "second position water". This water is proposed to be on a year to year lease. The City would be able to cancel access to the water with one year's notice. This shorter term of the lease is the reason that this water has a cheaper price than the "uninterruptible water" defined in the lease agreement.

Authorize the City Manager to sign the lease

Direct staff to alter the lease

Deny approval of the lease