Mateusz Perkowski | June 17, 2022 | Capital Press Oregon water regulators want to impose stricter rules for drilling new irrigation wells next year to preserve groundwater levels and prevent over-pumping. A preliminary analysis of available data suggests that little groundwater across the state is available for new allocations, said Ivan Gall, field services division […]
Stricter Groundwater Regulations Contemplated for Oregon Read More »
By Alex Schwartz | May 1, 2022 | Jefferson Journal The Klamath Basin provides a cautionary tale for Oregon about the need to plan more intentionally and sustainably with its shrinking water supply. Despite growing up on a ranch near John Day and living in the Klamath Basin for more than 20 years, Misty Buckley
Craig Harper of the Rogue Valley Council of Governments explains why the water diversion dam was removed in July 2008 from the Rogue River. https://youtu.be/U4mfSflSVGo
The story of removing the Gold Ray Dam on the Rogue River. https://vimeo.com/135799225
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers video shows an explosion Tuesday, July 15, 2008, that begins demolition of Elk Creek Dam in Southern Oregon. The Pulitzer Prize winning Mail Tribune is one of the oldest and most trusted newspaper organizations in Oregon. Based in Medford, OR, we cover Southern Oregon’s breaking news, local news, sports,
The Savage Rapids Dam built by the Grants Pass irrigation District in 1921 was designed to deliver Rogue River water to the fields of local farmers; It did not offer water retention, electrical creation, or flood control. Because the age of the dam was leading to costly replacement issues and its disruption of adult and
WaterWatch of Oregon began a campaign 20 years ago to improve fish passage on the Rogue River in Southwest Oregon. Through WaterWatch’s efforts four dams have been removed: Savage Rapids Dam, Gold Hill Dam, Gold Ray Dam, and Elk Creek Dam. https://youtu.be/VLOUgDoD6ek
Three mainstem dams were removed on the Rogue River between 2008-2010 and this is a flyover of each site in 2017. https://vimeo.com/222089256
Removal of the Wimer Dam on Evans Creek, Oregon to enhance fish passage and river connectivity. Spearheaded by WaterWatch and Geos Institute in cooperation with the landowner. Engineering by River Design Group and dam removed by Staton Companies. https://vimeo.com/135754205
A brief video from WaterWatch’s 2020 Celebration of Oregon Rivers about why WaterWatch’s mission and work is so important, especially in a climate-changed Oregon. https://youtu.be/sA4hAwV2qQA
WaterWatch’s Mission: Protecting and Restoring Oregon’s Rivers Read More »
WaterWatch captured this video of migrating salmon jumping repeatedly at false attraction flows gushing through the poorly maintained face of Winchester Dam. There are many such holes through the dam’s face and under its foundation. The delayed fish in this video risk injury and death when falling back on areas of eroded concrete, exposed rebar,
Several of WaterWatch’s program staff discuss what drives them in their work in this video that premiered at the 2020 WaterWatch Celebration of Oregon Rivers. https://youtu.be/Cx65RGUav_Y
The special appeal from WaterWatch’s 2020 Celebration of Oregon Rivers! https://youtu.be/lMzFZHiBjAs
Watch a video of WaterWatch’s 2021 Annual Celebration of Oregon Rivers Auction video, “Free Flowing Rivers Program” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN79QbKrj4c
Watch an interview featuring WaterWatch Southern Oregon Program Director, Jim McCarthy. Jim McCarthy featured in The Conservation Alliance’s Rogue River video on dam removals https://vimeo.com/383363908
Jim McCarthy featured in The Conservation Alliance’s Rogue River video on dam removals Read More »
Listen to an interview featuring WaterWatch Executive Director, John DeVoe. X-Ray FM Non-Profit Happy Hour. https://soundcloud.com/the-non-profit-hour/nphh-s7e10-waterwatch-of-oregon
John DeVoe on X-Ray Radio’s Non-Profit Happy Hour Read More »
Watch an interview featuring WaterWatch Executive Director, John DeVoe “Google Threatens Water Supply of Drought-Stricken Town” 11.6.21 Google is racing to win approval for two massive new data centers—which use millions of gallons of water—in a small, drought-stricken farming town in Oregon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTHDERxANA
John DeVoe speaks on the water impacts of proposed Google data center in the Dalles Read More »
An OPB Audio Story Featuring WaterWatch Southern Oregon Program Director Jim McCarthy. “Klamath Basin drought: Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex” 7.13.21 https://www.opb.org/article/2021/07/13/klamath-basin-drought-klamath-basin-national-wildlife-refuge-complex/?fbclid=IwAR1bBFzbxDUOpMJbcgwiEQEkg7g_vilEQfVYu9rTJdRSlst-cuTPjFn7tC4
An NPR Audio Story Featuring WaterWatch Staff Attorney Lisa Brown. “Encore: A vital lake in Oregon, around for eons, could run dry within a generation” 4.11.22 https://www.npr.org/2022/04/11/1092117495/encore-a-vital-lake-in-oregon-around-for-eons-could-run-dry-within-a-generation
By Alex Schwartz | April 26, 2022 | Jefferson Public Radio The Klamath Basin provides a cautionary tale for Oregon about the need to plan more intentionally and sustainably with its shrinking water supply. Despite growing up on a ranch near John Day and living in the Klamath Basin for more than 20 years, Misty
By WaterWatch Staff | April 6, 2022 | Instream While groundwater permitting standards require Oregon to determine whether water is available before issuing a new groundwater permit, in practice, the state all too often lacks enough data to make that determination. As a result, and a habit, the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) often operates
By WaterWatch Staff | April 5, 2022 | Instream In addition to the critical reforms advocated for by WaterWatch to ensure Oregon manages its groundwater in a sustainable manner, funding and agency capacity are also essential. As a result of past underinvestment in groundwater in many areas of the state, the Water Resources Department (OWRD)
State Groundwater Management, Capacity and Investment: A Transformative Package Read More »
By WaterWatch Staff | April 5, 2022 | Instream WaterWatch works across Oregon in administrative, collaborative, legislative and legal forums to advocate for reforms needed to secure sustainable groundwater management. WaterWatch has identified five critical and urgent reforms needed to put Oregon on a course to manage groundwater sustainably: 1 — Stop issuing permits without
Urgent Groundwater Reforms Needed for a Sustainable Water Future Read More »
By WaterWatch Staff | April 5, 2022 | Instream Groundwater provides a myriad of irreplaceable ecological benefits and is the sole source of drinking water for nearly one in four Oregonians. WaterWatch has a long history of working to ensure that Oregon’s management of groundwater preserves the vital role of this resource in maintaining streamflows,
Protecting Groundwater Resources is Critical for Oregon’s Environment and People Read More »
By John DeVoe | April 5, 2022 | Stream of Consciousness Oregon is in the midst of a groundwater crisis, a crisis that, if left unaddressed, will cripple the state’s water future in a climate-changed world. Though some areas of Oregon are already in a groundwater crisis, we can prevent this crisis from spreading to
By Emily Cureton Cook with Rachel Martin | April 4, 2022 | NPR Morning Edition In Oregon’s high desert, a lake more than 10,000 years old is drying up. That doesn’t have to happen. Summer Lake hosts millions of migratory birds annually, but its water is being diverted to farms. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: In southern
It’s Feared a Vital Lake in Oregon Could Run Dry Within a Generation Read More »
By Emily Cureton Cook | March 28, 2022 | Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon has protected land at Summer Lake Wildlife Area since 1944. Water is another story. Under current water rights, vital springs could run dry within a generation. The ground crumbled, kicking dust behind Marty St. Louis as he made his way down an
By Emily Cureton Cook | March 16, 2022 | Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) In Malheur County’s Cow Valley, state regulators have ignored known issues with overpumping groundwater, leaving the region at risk of economic and ecological damage that will be difficult to reverse. The warnings were hard to miss on a forsaken stretch of Highway
Race to the Bottom: How Big Business Took Over Oregon’s First Protected Aquifer Read More »
By Bo Evans | Feb. 24, 2022 | Scripps The Iron Gate Dam, one of four dams on the Klamath River, will be removed in 2023. It will be the largest dam removal in U.S. history. For Pachomio Feliz, the waters of the Klamath River and Pacific are life. He’s a member of the Yurok
Largest Dam Removal in U.S. History Set to Begin Read More »
By Rob Davis | Feb. 21, 2022 | The Oregonian After ignoring its decline for years, state agencies have pledged to help Lake Abert, Oregon’s only saltwater lake and a vital stop on the Pacific Flyway, which has run dry twice in the last eight years. In a Feb. 16 letter to environmental groups, the
By Rob Davis | Jan. 25, 2022 | The Oregonian State lawmakers and environmental groups responded to an investigation by The Oregonian into the state’s failure to protect Lake Abert, Oregon’s only salt lake, by promising oversight hearings and calling for immediate action to restore the migratory bird stop that has run dry twice
“The State Must Do More” — Lawmakers Weigh How to Protect Dry Lake Abert Read More »
By Rob Davis | Jan. 16, 2022 | The Oregonian When Oregon’s only saltwater lake mysteriously dried up in 2014, turning a vibrant landscape teeming with migratory birds into a desiccated, abandoned salt pan, state environmental regulators mobilized. Lake Abert, a 64-square-mile lake in south central Oregon’s high desert, had gone almost completely dry for
By Andrew Selsky and Manuel Valdes | Oct. 25, 2021 | Associated Press Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of this Oregon town on the Columbia River represent an emerging 21st century concern. Now a critical part of modern computing, data centers
Big Tech Data Centers Spark Worry Over Scarce Western Water Read More »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2021 Contacts: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, (541) 941-9450 Brian Barr, Rogue River Watershed Council, (541) 621-7226 Harboldt Dam before and after removal images here: https://tinyurl.com/eaz9kswe Credit photos to Crystal Nichols, Rogue River Watershed Council Three Priority Dam Removals Completed in Rogue’s Applegate Subbasin Collaborative project benefits salmon and steelhead while meeting private
Three Priority Dam Removals Completed in Rogue’s Applegate Subbasin Read More »
By WaterWatch Staff | Oct. 10, 2021 | Instream Watch of Oregon is challenging state approval of a plan to dampen the water-temperature impact of a $1.3 billion municipal water withdrawal project on the Willamette River. WaterWatch is asking the Multnomah County Circuit Court to overturn or re-evaluate a decision by the Oregon Department of
WaterWatch Challenges Willamette Water Temperature Plan Read More »
By Bryce Dole | Aug. 26, 2021 | East Oregonian A coalition of environmental groups is calling on Gov. Kate Brown to reject a permit application for the proposed Easterday dairy in Boardman. In a press conference on Aug. 24, leaders from the Stand Up to Factory Farms Coalition said the dairy will exacerbate a
Environmental Coalition Demands State Reject Proposed Easterday Dairy Read More »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR HEARING CALL-IN INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-941-9450, jim@waterwatch.org July 13th, 2021 Salem – Today, river advocates were again working to hold a polluter accountable for a botched October 2018 repair at Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. An Oregon administrative law judge has scheduled three days
By Elizabeth Castillo and David Miller | July 13, 2021 | Oregon Public Broadcasting David Miller from Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud spoke with Jim McCarthy, Southern Oregon program director for WaterWatch, about our longstanding work to protect and restore waterfowl and wetlands in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and took a
Jim McCarthy of WaterWatch Discusses the Klamath Basin on OPB’s Think Out Loud Read More »
FOR HEARING CALL-IN INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-708-0048, jim@waterwatch.org Administrative Hearing Over Botched 2018 Winchester Dam Repair Begins July 13 River Advocates Intervening to Protect North Umpqua Water Quality Salem – Next week, river advocates will again be working to hold a polluter accountable for a botched October 2018 repair at
By Dawn Stover | May 6, 2021 | Columbia Insight Author Dawn Stover is an independent journalist based in White Salmon, Washington, and a contributing editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Cody Easterday is still waiting for the Oregon Department of Agriculture to approve his application, submitted in June 2019, for a Confined
Cheese in the Desert: Why Mega-Dairies Are Piping Water Onto Oregon’s Shrub Steppe Read More »
