Gazette-Times editorial for Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008:

If there's anything we take for granted in western Oregon, it's water.

We're familiar - maybe at times, too familiar - with the water that falls regularly from the skies. But we don't know nearly as much about the water that flows underneath our feet - the groundwater that helps charge our streams and rivers and fills the wells that we rely on for many of our houses.

That's why it's good news that Benton County officials have launched a countywide effort to better understand our water resources. The effort includes a series of five public meetings, which kicks off Tuesday night with a session in Philomath. (See the sidebar on this page for a schedule of all the meetings.)

The Benton County effort is part of a statewide attempt to paint a truer picture of our water resources. One of the goals of the state effort is to project what the state's water needs will be up to 2050.

In Benton County, as in other parts of Oregon, there's an obvious link between water resources and housing density. In fact, last October, county commissioners overhauled water rules for new housing developments in a bid to protect groundwater.

The changes added increasing levels of testing for wells based on the number of potential lots, the density of proposed housing and type and quality of the aquifer supplying water for those homes. Additional tests now require developers to document sufficient water supply over time and show that nearby wells aren't harmfully affected.

But the fact is that nobody really has an accurate picture of the county's groundwater supply. How much water is underground in Benton County? How do wells connect? Are there spots in the county where demand is starting to outstrip supply?

Our guess is that county officials will gather much that's valuable during the series of meetings. But it's also nice that the meetings are being supplemented with a more-scientific effort. Adam Stebbins, who's leading the project for the county, is coordinating an effort to collect data and water-resource information in an attempt to map the water situation.

The project will not yield everything we need to know about our water supply. But we will know a lot more than we know now. That should allow us to make better choices about how we manage this most precious of resources.

If You Go

Here are times and dates for Benton County's water-project community meetings:

Philomath: 6 to 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, Benton County Historical Museum, 1101 Main St.

Monroe: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, Monroe High School, 365 N. Fifth St.

Alsea: 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, Alsea Public Library, 19192 Alsea Highway

Northwest Benton County: Wren, Kings Valley, Hoskins, Blodgett, Summit: 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, Wren Community Hall, 35515 Kings Valley Highway

Lewisburg: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, Mountain View School, 340 N.E. Granger Ave. (Location is tentative; call 766-6085 to confirm.)