World Photo by Lou Sennick Along the shoreline near the Highway 42S bridge over the Coquille River, a river gauge automatically records data on river levels for the National Weather Service.

Farm owners in low-lying sections near the Coquille River are worried their cows may get more than their hooves wet this winter, because the electronic river gauges on the river at Myrtle Point, the North Fork of the river near Myrtle Point and Coquille aren’t working correctly.

The gauges have not been calibrated, and therefore are not reading accurate water levels. The data from the gauges is posted on the National Weather Service Medford Web site and helps local residents keep track of the river — including when it is nearing flood stage. The Coos County Board of Commissioners and the National Weather Service are hoping to have a quick fix now that rainy season is here.

Mary Holmgren, co-owner of a Myrtle Point dairy, said having the river levels available online allows her and her husband time to move their cattle.

“That tells us when to move them out of low-lying areas,” Holmgren said.

They don’t want to see any of their less-than-graceful cows swimming or stranded in a flood.

Ian Shull, who lives on Fishtrap Road in Coquille, also has cattle and something else — her family’s house — in the potential path of flood water. When the river is on the rise, Shull checks the Web site several times daily, looking for an indication they need to move cattle, or out of their house.

“We would be trapped from both directions,” she said.

Shull has lived in the house since 1991 and said the winter of 1996-97 was the worst she can recall. She even remembers the date, Nov. 18, when the river washed through the Coquille Valley like Niagara Falls.

Though most winters aren’t as violent as that, her family still is forced out of their home two or three times each winter. The water usually just flows into the basement, she said.

“The water isn’t a threat to my life, but it is a threat to my way of life,” Shull said.

The issue apparently was exacerbated by a months-long lack communication between the county and the National Weather Service.

Last December, Service Hydrologist Spencer Higginson said the agency learned the manual gauge connected to a bridge over the Coquille River at the Coquille site was stolen. He added that manual gauges at the other two sites had, to his knowledge, were gone even before that. The manual gauges help calibrate electronic gauges, which lose accuracy over time.

Manual gauges are either big measuring sticks or a wire weight gauges, which have a metal weight suspended from a wire lowered into the water. Recent high metal salvage prices are likely to blame. Someone stole the Coquille mechanism.

Knowing that the manual gauge was gone, Higginson said NWS wanted to know how calibrating the devices was done. It’s a service the county oversees. The agency sent a letter and e-mails to the county starting in August, asking to be present at the next maintenance trip. Commissioner John Griffith said the first he had heard of the problem was Wednesday.

Higginson said when there wasn’t a response from the county, NWS turned off the gauge on Oct. 20.

“Turning it off was our way of saying we need to get this taken care of,” he said.

Many people use the Web site this time of year and Higginson was concerned about incorrect readings.

“We worry about people not being warned or being over-warned,” he said.

Higginson said the weather service would be willing to put up manual gauges at all three sites at its own expense if the county could guarantee regular calibration. Griffith wanted to know how quickly it could be done, saying it needed to be soon for public safety.

“I just want the thing to work,” he said.

The board this week voted to allow new manual gauge installation on county bridges.

Higginson said all the electronic gauges remain in place. It would take two to three weeks to get the manual gauges installed.

“We hope we can get this resolved and get good data to people,” Higginson said.