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- Oregon Universities Water News
- Year of Water News
- Oregon Water Events
- Oregon Water News
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Inst. for Water & Watersheds
Oregon State University
234 Strand Ag Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331-2208
Phone: 541-737-9918
iww@oregonstate.edu
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Oregon Universities Water News
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Residents of the Pacific Northwest might be forgiven for not having drought at the top of their minds after the last week, when an atmospheric river washed over the area, breaking rainfall records in some places.
But the recent rains belie a troubling concern for weather watchers in the region, where 74% of the land area is in some level of drought. The situation is most dire in Oregon, where 1.7 million of the state’s roughly four million residents live in a drought-affected area, according to the U.S. Drought monitor.
Central and southern Oregon have seen the biggest precipitation deficits this year, building on two previous years that were exceptionally dry, according to state climatologist Larry O’Neil.
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Small particles from tires inhibited the growth and caused adverse behavioral changes in organisms found in freshwater and coastal estuary ecosystems, two new research papers from Oregon State University scientists found.
The findings are part of a continued effort by scientists to unravel the impacts of microplastics and nanoplastics on aquatic ecosystems and aquatic organisms. Tire particles are one of the most common microplastic types in aquatic ecosystems.
Professor Stacey Harper, assistant professor Susanne Brander, and several other graduate students and a post-doctoral scholars in their labs, including Brittany Cunningham, Samreen Siddiqui, recently published two papers on the tire particle research in Chemosphere and the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
“The focus on microplastics and now nanoplastics is still relatively new,” said Harper, an Oregon State professor who studies the environmental health and safety impacts of nanomaterials and led the research on tire particles in freshwater organisms. “We’re now at the point of making policy decisions that we don’t have the science for. That’s why we are scrambling to supply that science.”
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Oregon is rich in water and defined by it. Our surface flows and aquifers give us a formidable state-level competitive advantage as well as a source of jobs, recreation, and identity across Oregon‘s regions and communities. However, our management of these resources, a key to realizing their full potential, is badly in need of an update and overhaul. This is the central message of Securing Oregon’s Water Future, an Oregon Business Council policy paper now available.
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On a sunny Thursday in early March, on the green stretches of Blue Lake Regional Park east of Portland toward the Columbia River Gorge, a gathering of the original River People was taking place. Salmon was baking. Moose and deer were on the grill. A canoe was in the water and canopied shelters were scattered on the grass. Tribal elders and veterans from several tribes of River People were on hand, greeting one another with open arms. Lots of gifting was going on: blankets and other items of friendship and relationship.
Singing and dancing and prayers were enlivening the atmosphere. Kids were watching and learning and cutting loose. “The young people got to dance, and listen to the prayers, and listen to the messages,” Aurolyn Stwyer, Celilo and Warm Springs/Wasco member and master beadwork artist who was one of the gathering’s main organizers, said the morning after the event.
It was a celebration, and a remembrance, and also an act of determination. Sixty-five years to the day earlier, at 10 a.m. on March 10, 1957, the floodgates of the newly completed The Dalles Dam were closed. Within hours the mighty Celilo Falls, river-broad and forty feet high and about thirteen miles upstream on the Columbia River, disappeared. The river flattened, the waters opened for barges and closed for salmon, electricity began its flow to urban areas and irrigation water to vast parched agricultural fields. And a way of life that had survived and thrived for at least ten thousand years disappeared along with the falls.
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Where engineers of all disciplines get connected!
“INFRASTRUCTURE for the Next Generation”
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Hosted by the Oregon State University Hydrophiles, the symposium is a two-day, student-centric conference highlighting outstanding student research in the fields of water resources science, engineering, and policy.
Current graduate and undergraduate students conducting freshwater-related research in any field (science, policy, engineering, etc.) are invited for presentations. This conference is open to anyone to attend. The Symposium provides an invaluable opportunity for the exchange of ideas among students, university faculty, professionals working in water resources, and the surrounding community.
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The Pacific Northwest Ground Water Exposition affords you the opportunity to:
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Increase your knowledge
- View new equipment and products
- Network with others in the industry.
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The theme for the 2022 Western Snow Conference is "Drought, Fire, and Precipitation Extremes: Operational Challenges for Snow Water Resources" however, all snow-related research in the context of measurements, modeling, and water supply are welcome. Keeping in line with the conference theme, related papers will be given priority.
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ISMAR11 includes a full day of pre-conference workshops, three days of technical sessions, plenary sessions, awards luncheon, field trips and great networking, socializing, and entertainment opportunities.
Check out the Preliminary Agenda now!
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The U.S. Geological Survey is embarking on a study to better understand water supply and demand in the Willamette Basin.
The study is part of a larger effort by the USGS to assess water availability and infrastructure nationwide in response to climate change, population growth and other challenges.
To identify gaps in water availability, the agency is undertaking a series of 10 Integrated Water Science studies in basins across the country, meeting with stakeholders and monitoring interactions among climate, human consumption and hydrology.
The Willamette Basin was selected as the fourth IWS study area, following the Delaware, Upper Colorado and Illinois river basins.
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A proposed intergovernmental agreement and water rights strategy between the Medford Water Commission and its six partner cities in the Rogue Valley is designed to ensure security of water rights for the cities and address supply issues.
“All the partners rely on Medford Water Commission for supplies. (The agreement is) intended to secure the supply for the future, and we are prioritizing to get more security,” said Brad Taylor, commission general manager.
The most important thing is to get the partners certified under Oregon law, said Taylor. The cities are in different stages, including use of water rights transfers and permits, while some also hold certificates, which provide the highest level of security.
The issues affect Ashland, Central Point, Eagle Point, Jacksonville, Phoenix and Talent, all of whom get water from the commission. Problems also include a surplus of water rights held by partners and water supply imbalance between them.
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A hydropower facility proposed by an irrigation district in Central Oregon isn’t subject to additional stream improvement requirements, according to a state land use ruling.
The state’s Land Use Board of Appeals has rejected a challenge filed by the Central Oregon Landwatch nonprofit against a hydroelectric project planned by the Three Sisters Irrigation District.
The farmland conservation group said it’s simply trying to ensure everyone plays by the same rules, but the irrigation district said the case amounts to "blackmail."
“Landwatch were basically trying to blackmail us,” said Marc Thalacker, the irrigation district’s manager. “They tried to weaponize the land use system.”
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An Illinois Valley resident and activist says illegal cannabis grows in the area are stealing water and there is no accountability.
Christopher Hall is a resident of the Illinois Valley who was contracted this past year by the Illinois Valley Soil and Water Conservation District to draft and publish a report investigating water rights and illegal marijuana operations in the district.
“Calculations show that the volume of water that was extracted by the cannabis industry in 2021 is equivalent to an entire month’s flow of the Illinois River as it goes through Kerby on its way out of the valley,” Hall said. “That’s an enormous amount of water to have taken.”
According to the report, there were a total of 946 grows mapped during his research. In order to qualify as a “mapped grow,” the cannabis operation had to have over 12 plants. Hall said 82% of that total were unlicensed.
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared a state of emergency in Klamath County as southern Oregon remains in an ongoing drought that shows no sign of letting up.
The Monday declaration directs state agencies, including the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Water Resources Department and the Water Resources Commission, to provide assistance to water users in the region and to seek federal resources to help residents and wildlife, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Snowpack in the Klamath Basin sat at 60% of normal as of Monday, which prompted the declaration.
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Nearly three-quarters of the Pacific Northwest remains locked in drought, climate experts from Oregon, Washington and Idaho say.
In the driest areas of southern and central Oregon, irrigators face another year of water shortages, and fire districts are predicting above-normal risk for wildfires as early as May.
Britt Parker, regional drought information coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said 74% of the Northwest is currently in drought. Approximately 18% is in "extreme" or "exceptional" drought, the two driest categories.
"This reflects long-term precipitation deficits for much of the interior Northwest," Parker said.
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This month, patrons of the North Unit Irrigation District will find a credit in their water bill. The drought relief package Oregon legislators passed in December includes $5.5 million to compensate NUID farmers and ranchers for water shortages due to extreme drought and environmental obligations.
"Whatever you paid last year gets applied to this year as a credit," said NUID General Manager Josh Bailey.
"We'd rather have the water than the money," said grass farmer Vern Bare. Bare says based on his acreage he pays about $100,000 a year no matter how much water he gets. Last year he got about a third of the water he normally gets. This year is shaping up even worse. Farmers may get about a quarter of their usual allotment. "It's hard to pay when you're not growing any crops."
Bare planted some winter wheat in the fall but doesn't plan to plant anything this summer. "It's going to be ugly out there."
Last year, patrons spent $4.75 million for irrigation. The drought relief compensates irrigators to the tune of $5.5 million.
"From a grower's perspective, this drought was terrible," said Bailey. "For NUID and key county leaders to be able to acquire those funds to offset those costs, that's huge."
Some farmers don't plan to plant their fields this year, so don't expect to use irrigation
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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — the federal agency that oversees water resource management in 17 Western states — has big projects planned in both its Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region and its California-Great Basin Region.
To get a bird’s-eye view, Capital Press reporter Sierra Dawn McClain talked with officials from the two regions about plans surrounding dams, hydropower, drought and the Klamath Basin.
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Forecasters predict March will be cooler than normal with near or above normal levels of precipitation.
February’s average high temperature was slightly higher than normal, and the average low was slightly below normal. The average temperature was 1.3 degrees higher than the normal average temperature for February, which is 35 degrees.
“The only oddity is the precipitation due to the rain shadow that you guys are in,” Rob Brooks, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Pendleton, said of the below average precipitation for February in Bend.
Brooks said there are a lot of variables that go into accurately predicting the weather, especially in the Pacific Northwest, including timing, location and the direction a particular storm system is traveling.
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An atmospheric river brought heavy rainfall to the Willamette Valley this week, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects will help refill some of its reservoirs stretching from Portland to south of Eugene.
Despite torrential downpours that set multiple one-day records for precipitation on Feb. 28, most areas still recorded overall deficits for the month.
According to the National Weather Service, the Salem area saw the most rain with 1.76 inches. That brought its monthly total to 2.8 inches, or about 60% of normal.
Portland International Airport received 1.66 inches of rain, bringing total February precipitation to 2.77 inches, or roughly 75% of normal. Rainfall was lighter in Eugene, which got 0.48 inches, bringing its monthly total to just under 0.98 inches — just 20% of normal.
The Army Corps operates the Willamette Valley Project, a series of 13 dams and reservoirs built for flood control that also provide stored water for irrigation, fish and wildlife, recreation and hydroelectricity.
Erik Petersen, the Corps’ operations manager for the Willamette and Rogue basins, said that “while every drop of precipitation helps right now, the atmospheric river appears to be impacting areas north of the Willamette Valley more significantly.”
“We may catch up a little, but we would have preferred this front had expanded farther south. It could have helped a lot more more,” Petersen said. “We’re in the middle of refill season for the Willamette and Rogue. We still have time before summer, but we sure need rain.”
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The River Democracy Act (RDA), currently making its way through Congress, would add an additional 4,700 miles of Oregon’s streams to the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. But the bill proposed by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley is seeing opposition that follows some familiar faultlines, upending two years of compromise-building.
Senator Wyden, who’s sponsoring the bill, began a public nomination process in the state in 2020 in which more than 2,200 Oregonians nominated 15,000 miles of streams along federal lands to be named and added via the River Democracy Act (RDA).
The act would require comprehensive land use management planning on listed streams to reduce catastrophic wildfire, improve ecological function, and protect endangered species and native species that are culturally significant to Tribes. The bill also asks for the appropriation of $30 million per year for restoration projects that provide drinking water or address damage from catastrophic wildfires.
From here you can insert any cliché for western public resource disagreements where the sides have gone to their corners – local vs federal control; conservation vs logging; economic vs cultural needs.
In conflict are management practices, deep-seated values, and long-standing narratives about natural resources, public land, and the public process. The outcome could determine the future of rural communities in question, affect endangered species, rural economies and ecosystems, and tribes’ first foods and wildlife habitat—all in the path of climate change and wildfire.
Wyden hoped to utilize “The Oregon Way,” a process of public engagement and consensus-building, to tackle some of the toughest natural resources issues facing the state. The bill was introduced in the Senate in February 2021 and started kicking up dust in rural Oregon in the summer.
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In the midst of a devastating Western drought, a massive freshwater lake in Southern Oregon has become the focal point of the latest battle in a long-running legal dispute over water rights in the Pacific Northwest.
Farmers, ranchers, fishermen, tribes and a slew of government agencies have been fighting in court for over two decades for rights to obtain water from the Klamath Project, a massive system of dams, tunnels and canals that irrigates 230,000 acres of agricultural land and supplies water for four national wildlife refuges.
The most recent dispute erupted in April last year when the state of Oregon issued an order directing the U.S. government to immediately stop taking water from the Upper Klamath Lake to provide flows that help ensure the survival of endangered coho salmon.
The state subsequently issued notices claiming that the Bureau of Reclamation — a federal agency that manages the Klamath Project — violated state law by taking “stored water” earmarked for farms, ranches and others with existing water rights.
A Marion County Circuit Court judge had ordered Thomas Byler, director of the Oregon Water Resources Department, to issue those demands after the Klamath Irrigation District sued to halt the removal of water from Oregon’s 96-square-mile lake.
In October, the Bureau filed a cross-claim in a previously stayed federal lawsuit arguing the state's demands are preempted by federal laws, which require water for endangered species and tribal rights be prioritized over commercial interests.
In a virtual hearing on Oregon’s motion to dismiss that claim Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick said he would advance the federal government’s case despite Oregon’s insistence that its directives are fully consistent with federal law.
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Lincoln City Public Works presented an update on Mid-Coast water planning during a Lincoln City Council meeting Monday, Feb. 28. This is a five-year planning effort has been occurring for Mid-Coast water providers. The group is called the Mid-Coast Water Planning Partnership.
The partnership is a collaborative that was created to develop regional sustainable solutions that ensure adequate water supplies for water systems and local industry while supporting healthy fish and wildlife populations. The partnership consists of water providers, community residents, tribes, businesses, nonprofit organizations, federal and state agencies, local governments, landowners, academic institutions and more.
Public Works Director Stephanie Reid said the first step was creating the partnership. The partnership was funded through a state grant.
“The City of Newport applied for the grant,” Reid said.
Over 60 entities signed the partnership charter. Everyone in the group stayed until the end for the most part. A lot of time was invested.
“The key is that they’ve set up a wonderful website,” Reid said.
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