The good news is that Foster Reservoir will probably remain full the bulk of the summer recreation season, several dozen persons were told Wednesday evening during a Willamette Basin Reservoir management meeting held at Sweet Home High school.
The bad news is, Green Peter and other reservoirs within the system probably won’t.
As the public prepares to deal with the impact of Oregon’s second driest year of the century, Col. Randy Butler of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the issue of dealing with the many demands for the same amount of available water is a “collaborative one.”
Col. Butler said the Corps of Engineers is working as a team with the Bonneville Power Administration, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Environmental Quality among others in making decisions about water storage and flows into the river systems.
Ultimately, he emphasized, the buck stops in his office. If a drought creates greater pressures, he will ultimately have to make the decision as to what use gets priority.
Wednesday’s meeting was a follow up to area information sessions held in March. Col. Butler said information gleaned at those meetings was used to make adjustments in management plans for the reservoirs.
Matt Wray, Willamette Basin coordinator for the Corps of Engineers said there are 13 reservoirs in the Willamette Basin system. Of those, 11 are primarily for water storage and two (including Foster) are known as re regulator pools.
All together, the 13 reservoirs can store 1.6 million acre feet of water when at capacity.
“This year, they all won’t be full,” Wray said.
The reservoirs are used for multiple purposes, Wray said, but their primary purpose has always been flood control. Other purposes include hydropower generation, irrigation, recreation, navigation, water quality and municipal and industrial uses.
Lookout Point can hold 19% of the basin’s total reservoir reserves. Detroit can hold 18%, Green Peter 16% and Hills Creek, 12%.
Drought conditions have significantly impacted on reservoir filling. As of last week, the state is at 58% of normal precipitation, 68% of snowpack, and 62% of reservoir storage.
1977, which was the driest year on record, actually had fairly good rainfall in April and May.
“If we get eight inches of rain in May we would still be the third driest year,” said Roger Ross, chief of reservoir regulation and water quality.
There are some 240 contracts for irrigation uses. Irrigation rights are based on seniority in times of extreme weather condition. About 60,000 acre feet of stored water is contracted for irrigation uses which amounts to 1 to 2.5 acre feet per acre.
In a normal year, Fern Ridge, Foster and Detroit reservoirs are given priority due to recreational needs. This year, recreation has moved from a high to low priority, Corps officials said.
Detroit, Green Peter and Fern Ridge “won’t come close” to being full, officials said. Green Peter is as full as it is going to get, they said.
Corps officials plan to provide augmentation flows for fish passage programs, but at a lower than requested level, officials said. They will also provide summer flows to allow for municipal flow needs in Albany and Salem.
Paul Wagner of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said dams and reservoirs can have an impact on endangered species. In Oregon, those species include the spring Chinook and Oregon chub.
He said that in the 1920s it was estimated there were some 275,000 spring Chinook in the basin rivers. That number dropped to about 55,000 in the 1940s and is estimated at 1,500 today.
“Big reservoirs change the nature of rivers,” Wagner said. Those changes, he said, impact the survival rates of fish populations.
Beth Woodward of the Department of Environmental Quality said river water flows impact pollution control efforts.
“Flow is extremely important,” she said. “We will be especially concerned with later summer flows in the Willamette near Portland.”
Woodward said the DEQ is asking cities to make sure their equipment is in good working condition, their waste storage units are functioning properly and chlorine use is kept to a minimum. Cities should also be prepared for possible power outages, she said.
The Pacific Northwest has enjoyed relatively low power costs over the years due to extensive hydropower generation from the Bonneville Power Administration on the Columbia and hydro generators on dams such as Foster and Green Peter said John Wellschlager of the BPA.
This year, power needs are up as are costs. Wellschlager said some 80% of the area power is produced by hydrogeneration. Some 67% of overall power needs is met by hydrogeneration.
Eight dam hydrogenerators have a maximum production capacity of 457 megawatts. On average, they produce some 243 megawatts each year. In perspective, the city of Springfield uses about 100 megawatts of electricity per year while the city of Ashland will use about 19 megawatts.
The amount of electricity the dam units produced from July to October is worth about $135 million on today’s market, Wellschlager said. Two years ago, that same power would have cost just $8 million.
Mike Adams, Sweet Home Public Works director, said he is asking the community to use conservation efforts in terms of water and power usage. He suggested low flow toilets, fixing water leaks and converting to low energy lighting fixtures.