Sept. 9, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information, please contact:
Jim McCarthy
(541) 708-0048
jim@waterwatch.org
Link to Sept. 10, 2026, Commission Meeting Agenda:
https://www.oregon.gov/deq/about-us/eqc/Pages/202609.aspx
Link to Meeting Zoom:
https://deq-oregon-gov.zoom.us/j/84180902973
Links to March 16, 2026, Combined Rulings:
https://waterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/DEQ_Proposed_Final_Order_030926_1.pdf
and
https://waterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Terrafirma_DEQ_27K_Fine_ALJ_Order.pdf
Environmental Quality Commission Hearing Over Botched 2023 Winchester Dam Repair Set for Thursday, Sept. 10th
River advocates intervene to protect North Umpqua River water quality.
Portland, Oregon — River advocates will again work to hold a polluter accountable for a botched summer 2023 repair and resultant ecological disaster at Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River.
The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) has scheduled two hours of oral argument and deliberation beginning Thursday, Sept. 10, at 1:15 p.m. as part of an ongoing state-level contested case over a combined $104,767 fine issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) against dam owner Winchester Water Control District and TerraFirma Foundation Repair, Inc., the primary contractor for the 2023 repairs at the 450-foot wide, 17-foot tall, 136-year-old structure. TerraFirma is a basement repair company owned by the District’s board president. The deliberation will be held in the third floor conference room of the Portland DEQ headquarters at 700 NE Multnomah Street.
WaterWatch of Oregon, Steamboaters, Native Fish Society, Umpqua Watersheds, and Oregon Wild are intervenors also known as “Limited Parties” in the case on behalf of the river, water quality, fish, and wildlife, and are represented by Crag Law Center.
The hearing will be accessible to reporters and the public via Zoom.
The EQC oversees the DEQ, and the District and TerraFirma have requested this hearing in the wake of a senior administrative law judge’s scathing ruling issued March 6, 2026, upholding the fines. The March ruling marked the second time in under five years a judge has upheld state fines for water quality violations during botched Winchester Dam repairs after the same five organizations intervened in support of the previous fines.
Previously, in the wake of 2018 repairs at the dam, DEQ issued a $53,578 fine after state investigators found that pollution from the repair degraded aquatic habitat, killed fish, and harmed the primary drinking water source for the City of Roseburg and the Umpqua Basin Water Association – serving approximately 37,700 people combined. Investigators also found that dam repairs were conducted without following known best management practices, even after authorities provided the dam owners with information in advance on how to protect water quality and fish.
In the most recent proceeding, the judge found the District has a “history of hiring contractors inexperienced with complex in-water work.” (p. 42) The judge also found that “TerraFirma did not have a background with in-water projects with respect to dams or otherwise” (p. 41) and that Winchester Water Control District demonstrated a pattern of “choosing expediency and low cost over qualifications and experience when selecting a contractor [for dam repairs].” (p.41) Further, the judge found that TerraFirma’s conduct during the 2023 repair was “reckless,” and that the state had established that TerraFirma “consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk” which “constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe in that situation.” (pp. 16-17)
Unfortunately, 2018 and 2023 were likely not the only times Winchester Dam repairs polluted drinking water supplies and/or harmed North Umpqua fish and wildlife. On average, Winchester Dam repairs have occurred once every three to five years since the 1960s, but public records show no permits for these prior repairs. Public records do describe “leakage” during one previous repair and a state official complaining to the contractor “about cement in the river and no permits.”
State records also show the dam owners have at other times repaired the dam by installing large numbers of pressure treated wood planks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Human Services recommend that treated wood not be used where it may come in direct or indirect contact with public drinking water. Winchester Dam is just 50 feet upstream from Roseburg’s public drinking water intake. The structure lies entirely within state designated Essential Salmonid Habitat and federally designated critical habitat for Oregon Coast Coho salmon protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The river advocates intervening in this case are part of a larger coalition of fishing, conservation, and whitewater groups seeking to remove the dam while working to raise alarm bells with government officials over the District’s chronic non-compliance with state and federal repair permitting, engineering, water quality, and dam safety requirements as well as their disregard for protections for fish and wildlife despite the essential habitat importance of the North Umpqua for salmon and steelhead. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Winchester Dam impedes access to 160 miles of high-quality habitat for salmon and steelhead.
For information, please contact Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon Southern Oregon program director, at jim@waterwatch.org.
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For over 40 years, WaterWatch of Oregon has been committed to a single, clear mission: To protect and restore flows in Oregon rivers and waterways to sustain native fish, wildlife, and the people of Oregon who depend on healthy rivers. WaterWatch of Oregon was the first organization in the west to seek structural reform of antiquated water laws to protect and restore our rivers, and facilitated passage of Oregon’s landmark Instream Water Rights Act in 1987.