As the end of the year approaches, the City of Sweet Home once again faces the annual deep drawdown of Green Peter Reservoir. As such, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring a state of emergency during its Sept. 23 meeting.
Ahead of the drawdown last year, the city declared a state of emergency in regards to water drinking quality, which the city believes laid a foundation that eventually protected them.
“That action actually gave Sweet Home the leverage to advocate for our community and it worked,” City Manager Jason Ogden said. “The drawdown was halted and, in doing so, our water system and residents were protected.”
Again this year, anticipating risks associated with the drawdown, the city declared a state of emergency, which provides access to state and federal support, if needed, he said.
According to Dustin Bengtson, operations project manager for the Willamette Valley and Rogue Basin projects with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Corps will try to reach their target reservoir level by Dec. 1.
“It’s a little different than it has been in years past’” he said. “We’re supposed to try to get to that target elevation by the first of December. And then, different than in prior years when we were trying to achieve a 30-day operation at that level, this year is planned for two weeks.”
As such, the Corps plans to hold Green Peter Reservoir at 780 feet above sea level between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15.
In 2023, the first year of the deep drawdown, the Corps started releasing water from Green Peter Reservoir in late summer as they attempted to reach their target level by mid-November, but they actually reached the target a month early. They held the pool at its targeted level until mid-December.
The following year, in 2024, the Corps began drawing down in mid-October to reach its target elevation by mid-November, with an expected 30-day hold period. However, drinking water risks from downstream municipalities halted the operation, and the Corps began allowing the reservoir to refill by Nov. 23 that year.
Greg Taylor, USACE Supervisory Fisheries Biologist for the Willamette Valley and Rogue Basin Projects, said water has already been getting released from Green Peter Reservoir this year, but it’s more of a gradual release.
“Because the inflows to Green Peter are significantly lower than the releases, the reservoir elevation will continue to drop slowly,” he said.
As for the water’s turbidity, it should not be noticeable until later this year than in previous years.
“Based on previous monitoring, we have been able to tie the onset of turbidity to the elevation of the reservoir,” Taylor said. “It looks like this year we should not see turbidity increase until November, barring anything unusual with the weather.”
Bengtson said the Corps is currently not working under the 2021 injunction that forced the deep drawdown, but they are working under “a modified operation to achieve the same objective.”
Kathryn Tackley, a program manager at the Portland District, reported these drawdowns should be considered the “new normal” until USACE constructs physical fish passage structures to replace the need for the drawdowns.
The Corps maintains regular communication with the affected cities, Bengtston said.
More information about this year’s drawdown, as well as upcoming informational meetings, is expected to be announced by USACE soon.
In other business, the council:
- Held a work session prior to the regular meeting to review the employee evaluation process for the city manager and city attorney.
- Adopted the 2025 Linn County Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan.