TALENT — Some of the city's water rights are up for grabs.
After years of not using the 28.4 acre feet of Talent Irrigation District water rights it owns, the city plans to sell them to local farmers.
Talent city engineer Joe Strahl said the city still has to pay a fee for holding water rights through TID, even though it doesn't use the water.
The city will retain the rights to far more TID water. The rights proposed for sale amount to more than 9.25 million gallons of water each year.
"As long as they're city water rights, the city's going to have to pay fees as they have been doing for many years with no real benefits," Strahl said.
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TID maintains miles of irrigation canals that provide water from local reservoirs to farmers, ranchers and other parties for uses other than drinking.
The city public works department considered tapping into an irrigation canal to water landscaping at Chuck Roberts Park two years ago. But Strahl said weed seeds from the TID water could clog sprinkler heads and the untreated water could also pose a health risk if children drank from the sprinklers.
Through consultant Hollie Cannon of Water Rights Solutions, Strahl said the city could probably make about $100,000 by selling its rights to local agriculture. At Wednesday night's City Council meeting, he said prospective buyers were lined up.
The council decided it would let city staff sell water rights as long as they went to local agriculture — not for watering lawns.
"If we saw something counter-productive taking it out of the agricultural swing, could we say no?" Councilman Don Steyskal asked Strahl Wednesday.
Councilwoman Wendy Siporen hoped the rights could be transferred to a number of smaller, independent farms rather than one large entity.
Strahl said he would consult with the city before selling water rights to any specific buyer.
For now, Talent plans to use treated city water for all parks and turf maintenance.
Alan Panebaker is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 482-3456, Ext. 227, or apanebaker@dailytidings.com.
