1985

• WaterWatch of Oregon is established after founders Tom and Audrey Simmons raise water allocation and instream flow issues before the Oregon legislature, Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD), and the Oregon Water Resources Commission (OWRC).

1987

• The landmark Instream Water Rights Act, drafted and championed by WaterWatch, is signed into law.

1988

• The Savage Rapids Dam removal campaign begins in earnest as WaterWatch protests a request to take additional water from the Rogue River at Savage Rapids Dam. Negotiations with the Grants Pass Irrigation District (GPID) begin over wasteful water use and harm to migrating fish.

1989

• WaterWatch wins its first lawsuit defending streamflows in the North Fork John Day River.

1990

• Under the Instream Water Rights Act, approximately 500 instream water rights are established on streams throughout Oregon.
• At WaterWatch’s urging, OWRD adopts statewide policies for water conservation and instream flow protection that recognize the benefits of water remaining where it naturally occurs.

1991

• WaterWatch releases a report that identifies illegal water uses in the Umatilla River Basin, beginning WaterWatch’s campaign to return water to the Umatilla.

1992

• At the urging of WaterWatch, OWRC adopts a statewide policy that prohibits overallocation of Oregon’s rivers and streams.
• WaterWatch wins a case establishing five new instream water rights in the Middle Fork Malheur River.
• The Oregonian runs a three-part series highlighting WaterWatch’s efforts to return water to the Umatilla Basin.

1993

• In response to ongoing pressure from WaterWatch, OWRD begins to require measurement and reporting of water use for all new permits.
• WaterWatch petitions the state to close the Columbia River Basin to further water withdrawals in response to salmon listings under the federal Endangered Species Act. This results in the development of sensitive fish stock rules that closed streams in the upper Columbia River Basin to further water appropriation in the spring, summer, and fall months.

1994

• A Bureau of Reclamation study on fish passage alternatives for Savage Rapids Dam recommends the dam’s removal as the most beneficial and cost-effective option, and OWRC extends a water right permit for the dam contingent on its removal.

1995

• WaterWatch negotiates legislative changes to the 1970 State Scenic Waterway Act, clarifying that hydraulically connected groundwater is protected by the Act.
• An agreement is reached with Umatilla Basin irrigators on instream flow rights for salmon.

1996

• A WaterWatch lawsuit prevents the diversion of water from a wild steelhead creek in the John Day Basin.
• WaterWatch measures water use in the Wood River in the Klamath Basin and finds illegal use — OWRD responds with improved water management after issuing headgate notices to better control diversions, resulting in improved streamflows.
• Over 800 new instream water rights are issued around the state under the Instream Water Rights Act.
• WaterWatch challenges development of state-owned lands along the Columbia River leased to Boeing due to concerns with water withdrawals and other ecological impacts.

1997

• WaterWatch joins with Trout Unlimited to launch the Western Water Project to reform water management in western states.

1999

• GPID reneges on an earlier commitment to remove Savage Rapids Dam — in response, OWRC cancels one of the district’s water rights.

2000

• A hydrologic study finds WaterWatch’s work in the Wood River in the Klamath Basin has reduced illegal water use and restored streamflows by 30 percent.
• At the urging of WaterWatch, the state adopts a Strategic Water Measurement Plan to move forward on requiring measurement of significant diversions in priority basins.
• WaterWatch releases its report Rivers Without Water: Oregon’s Unnatural Disaster to highlight the plight of rivers across Oregon.

2001

• The landmark Boeing settlement is signed between a coalition of conservation organizations led by WaterWatch, Governor John Kitzhaber, and developers. The agreement protects over 22,000 acres of rare native grasslands and cuts water rights by nearly 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs).
• WaterWatch and other conservation groups threaten legal action to protect federal endangered species, resulting in settlement agreement to protect minimum flows in the Walla Walla River.
• WaterWatch staff attorney Bob Hunter stands for rivers at the A-canal headgate in the Klamath Basin as WaterWatch goes to court to seek a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impacts of leasing refuge lands for commercial agriculture.
• An agreement to remove Savage Rapids Dam is signed by WaterWatch, GPID, and Governor Kitzhaber.
• WaterWatch’s longstanding work in the Deschutes Basin in challenging all new groundwater right applications for violating the State Scenic Waterway Act leads to the adoption of groundwater mitigation rules that substantially protect streamflows from new groundwater pumping.

2002

• As part of the Marmot Dam removal project, WaterWatch successfully negotiates an agreement with Portland General Electric (PGE) to protect 600 cfs in the Sandy River and 200 cfs in the Little Sandy River.
• WaterWatch sues to curb water speculation by the Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board and protect Tenmile Creek on the Oregon Coast.
• Bob Hunter participates in the development of the Aspen Institute’s publication Dam Removal: A New Option for a New Century.
• WaterWatch publishes Legally Dry: How Oregon’s Water Laws Fail Our Rivers to highlight the need for minimum flows for fish.
• WaterWatch leads a coalition of conservation and commercial fishing groups in petitioning the OWRD to close the Klamath Basin to new groundwater pumping rights.
• A significant legal victory for WaterWatch in the Crooked River Basin as WaterWatch lends support to an ODFW effort to establish a new instream water right in Bear Creek opposed by an irrigator.
• Following a massive die-off of salmon in the Klamath Basin, WaterWatch takes the fight to Congress for more responsible management of the basin.

2004

• WaterWatch wins its Coos Bay-North Bend case on Tenmile Creek as the Court of Appeals rules a municipal water diverter — and any other type of water user — cannot speculate in public water supplies by securing water use permits based on possibilities of future use or sale.
• WaterWatch signs the Pelton Round Butte Hydro Settlement that protects target flows in the lower Deschutes River, provides for fish augmentation flows in critical months, and allows regulation of upper basin water rights in favor of lower river instream water rights.
• WaterWatch intervenes in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) dam relicensing process for the four dams on the lower Klamath River, kicking off years of work by Tribes and other stakeholders that ultimately leads to the dams’ removal in 2023 and 2024.

2005

• Prompted by WaterWatch’s victory in the Tenmile Case, the legislature adopts a new law that includes a requirement that undeveloped municipal water rights are conditioned to maintain the persistence, or survivability, of fish listed as sensitive, threatened, or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
• WaterWatch wins a Court of Appeals case challenging the Deschutes Groundwater Mitigation Program as inadequate.
• For the second time, WaterWatch leads a coalition of conservation and fishing groups in petitioning the OWRC to close the Klamath Basin to new groundwater permits, finally securing a decision to stop issuing new primary groundwater rights.

2006

• WaterWatch helps secure important streamflow and fisheries benefits in a relicensing settlement agreement for PGE’s Clackamas Basin hydropower system.
• In a significant victory for coho salmon in the Klamath River, a federal judge rules in favor of WaterWatch and our co-plaintiffs that streamflows needed to prevent the risk of extinction to Klamath coho salmon must be met immediately — not in several years as had been proposed.
• WaterWatch opposes an aquifer recharge project that would have pulled 200 cfs from the Middle Deschutes River. The project proposal was ultimately withdrawn in 2024.

2007

• WaterWatch prepares and files multiple challenges against inadequate fish persistence conditions that OWRD proposed for municipal water permit extensions.

2008

• As part of WaterWatch’s Free the Rogue campaign, Gold Hill Diversion Dam is removed from the Rogue River. At the time this obsolete dam was the second greatest barrier to fish passage in the Rogue Basin.
• After decades of work to address the inadequate passage for fish at Elk Creek Dam in the Rogue Basin, the dam is “notched” with the partial removal of a section of the dam. Only partially constructed, Elk Creek Dam served no useful purpose and caused major problems for migratory fish in this Rogue River tributary.
• WaterWatch’s advocacy on the importance of high flows in maintaining aquatic habitat helps push Oregon to develop “peak flow guidance” to shape the allocation of wet season water in Oregon.
• WaterWatch begins investigating water issues related to Lake Abert and working with others to protect this internationally significant saline lake.

2009

• Thanks to WaterWatch’s many years of strategic and dogged work, Savage Rapids Dam is at last removed on the Rogue River. This successfully opens up 157 miles of fish habitat.
• WaterWatch and our allies prevent an illegal mining operation on the Little Chetco River.

2010

• In another milestone for WaterWatch’s Free the Rogue campaign, Gold Ray Dam is removed on the Rogue River.
• WaterWatch prevents widespread mining proposals in the Umpqua Basin.

2011

• Senior water rights on the Little Applegate River are transferred to instream rights, ensuring flows for fish during drought conditions.
• WaterWatch prevents a number of proposed dams on tributaries of the John Day River.
• With John Kitzhaber’s return as governor, WaterWatch works with the governor’s office to reinvigorate the state Scenic Waterway Act program.

2012

• After many years of hard work by WaterWatch and others, the state adopts its first Integrated Water Resources Strategy (IWRS), formally recognizing the importance of instream values.
• WaterWatch legal actions and water right settlements with Brookings and Pacific City protect flows in the Chetco and Nestucca basins.
• WaterWatch wins a major victory against water speculation in a case against the Willamette Water Company on the McKenzie River.

2013

• WaterWatch wins a Court of Appeals case regarding a City of Cottage Grove water permit, closing a loophole used to evade protections of the fish persistence standard and establishing precedent for revoking faulty certificates.
• WaterWatch Southern Oregon program director Jim McCarthy testifies before Congress on the Klamath Basin.

2014

• The Crooked River Act passes, which allocates roughly half the water in Prineville Reservoir to downstream fish and wildlife.
• WaterWatch challenges multiple new groundwater permits in the Harney Basin, calling attention to the statewide need to improve groundwater allocation and helping spur action to address declining Harney Basin groundwater levels.
• WaterWatch joins Columbia Treaty talks.
• WaterWatch works with a coalition to prevent a water right from being issued for a nickel mining proposal on the Smith River.

2015

• The Free the Rogue campaign continues with the removal of Wimer and Fielder dams on Evans Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River.
• A federal court orders the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete a long overdue, comprehensive conservation plan for the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges.
• WaterWatch prompts withdrawal of a bad agency decision regarding a water development plan that would drain the Kilchis River, a critically important salmon stream on the northern Oregon Coast.

2016

• After WaterWatch helped revive the program, the Chetco and Molalla rivers are designated as state scenic waterways.
• The Willamette reallocation authorization process begins as up to 1.6 million acre feet of water stored in Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs is allocated to specific uses including fish and wildlife.
• Spotted Frog litigation is filed in the upper Deschutes Basin.
• The Oregonian debuts its Draining Oregon series, highlighting issues with the state’s groundwater allocation and management system, with substantial input from WaterWatch.

2017

• The Court of Appeals upholds WaterWatch’s win protecting the McKenzie River from water speculation.
• WaterWatch and our partners’ 2015 petition to OWRD results in new rules effectively barring the use of Smith River waters for large scale mining, and helps establish it as Oregon’s first Outstanding Natural Resource Water under the Clean Water Act.

2019

• After WaterWatch helped revive the program, 17 miles of the Nehalem River are designated a State Scenic Waterway.

2020

• WaterWatch, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), and Steamboaters – represented by Earthjustice – file an ESA complaint in federal court against the Winchester Water Control District, i.e. the owners of Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River.

2021

• In a case brought by WaterWatch, the Oregon Supreme Court rules a hydro right in the Powder River Basin for a hydroelectric power plant that hadn’t operated for 26 was obsolete and should be converted to an instream water right, closing a loophole in a significant benefit to streams and rivers statewide.
• Advocacy on the part of WaterWatch in the 2021 legislative session helps secure $500 million in needed water investments.
• WaterWatch’s advocacy ensures the reallocation of 1.6 million acre-feet of water stored by the Army Corps of Engineers behind 13 dams will include an instream allocation to meet streamflow needs of ESA-listed fish in the Willamette River and its tributaries.
• WaterWatch prevents five new dams from being built in the upper Crooked River, including one that would have inundated part of the Wild and Scenic North Fork Crooked River.

2022

• WaterWatch, in conjunction with a coalition of conservation organizations that became the Oregon Water Partnership, helped secure a $25 million drought package for aquatic ecosystems from the Oregon legislature.
• A WaterWatch amicus brief in the Oregon Court of Appeals helps prevent agribusiness from circumventing rules and policies designed to prevent declines in local aquifers in the Malheur Lake Basin.
• WaterWatch helps stop attempts by irrigators to prevent the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from providing water from Upper Klamath Lake to the Klamath River for salmon.
• Eighty new instream water rights are approved on streams on the northern Oregon Coast, while 159 new instream rights are applied for in the Rogue, South Coast, and Umpqua basins.
• The John Day place-based plan, which WaterWatch helped shape, is adopted.
• Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) debuts its Race to the Bottom series on the state’s growing groundwater crisis.

2023

• The Oregon Court of Appeals upholds an earlier denial for a permit to build a dam and reservoir spanning Drift Creek, an important tributary to the Pudding River.
• In the Free the Rogue campaign, Lovelace Dam is removed on Slate Creek in the Applegate River subbasin.
• Takelma Creek Dam is removed in the Illinois River subbasin.
• WaterWatch and our allies stop a damaging dam proposal from moving forward on Walker Creek, a tributary of the upper Nestucca River.
• The Oregon legislature enacts SB 85, which creates new regulations for large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), including requirements to show legal access to all water required and a limit on stock watering without a permit.

2024

• Ten years after WaterWatch began highlighting the need to modernize the state’s approach to groundwater allocation, working with partners and participating in rulemaking, the state adopts rules that provide significant protection for Oregon’s aquifers.
• WaterWatch works to support the state’s 266 instream water rights in the Willamette Basin.
• In another milestone for the Free the Rogue campaign, Pomeroy Dam is removed on the Illinois River with related infrastructure improvements to benefit native fish habitat and river ecosystems continuing into 2025.
• Williams-Whalen Dam is removed on Evans Creek.
• The removal of the four lower Klamath River dams, which WaterWatch advocated for years earlier, is completed as the largest dam removal effort in U.S. history.

2025

• WaterWatch remains focused on reforming western water law and protecting special locales across Oregon, from working to remove Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River to restoring the internationally-significant saline Lake Abert, to protecting streamflows in the Deschutes and Crooked rivers, the Rogue Basin and lower John Day, advocating for groundwater dependent ecosystems in the Harney Basin, and more.

Molalla River banner photo courtesy of Bob Wick, photo of Neil Brandt and Mary Lou Soscia by Nina Johnson.