
Electric Outage: 1-844-484-2300
Water Emergency: 541-685-7595
EWEB Main: 541-685-7000
More than 265 EWEB workers have reduced their car travel while enhancing the safety and resiliency of our community by working from home.
Find Out MoreAs we continue to care for our critical infrastructure, we must also protect the source of our drinking water—the McKenzie River and its surrounding watershed.
Find Out MoreOn the heels of the Holiday Farm Fire, additional water quality sensors have been placed in the main stem of the river, as well as in several creeks and tributaries.
Find Out MoreVoluntary program helps residents restore their land and prepare for rebuilding, while reducing the impacts of the fire on the McKenzie River.
Find Out MoreHave you ever wondered what happens to the electric grid on Thanksgiving?
Find Out MoreHeavy rain in the McKenzie Valley over the weekend gave EWEB’s water quality team a close look at the potential impacts from the Holiday Farm Fire on source water.
Find Out MoreCrews of young people are helping to protect Eugene’s drinking water by mitigating the impact of post-fire soil erosion along the McKenzie River.
Find Out MoreTurning on the tap for safe drinking water, and flushing the toilet with no second thought about what happens to wastewater, are actions most of us take for granted every day. But this year as we face an enormous public health crisis stemming from the covid-19 pandemic, we must realize that reliable water service is something we depend on to protect our health and economy.
Find Out MoreIn the aftermath of the Holiday Farm Fire, we’re working to protect the safety and security of our community’s sole source of drinking water.
Find Out MoreA team of Pacific Northwest public and private organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the development of what would be one of the largest renewable hydrogen production facilities in North America.
Find Out MoreWe launched the emergency water supply program about two years ago with the goal of establishing several geographically dispersed water distribution sites throughout the community.
Find Out MoreWe continue to monitor both the source water and treated drinking water to ensure its safety.
Find Out MoreUpdate on the capabilities of our Hayden Bridge Filtration plant when it comes to treating water from the McKenzie River amid the impacts of the Holiday Farm Fire.
Find Out MoreEach day, the treatment process is reviewed and adjustments are made accordingly.
Find Out MoreWe want to assure all customers that the water drawn from the lower McKenzie River and then treated at the Hayden Bridge Filtration Plant is safe to drink.
Find Out MoreAt the March 2 EWEB Board meeting, Commissioners approved a new program that will pay for wildfire restoration projects in the watershed through a temporary flat fee assessed to customer water bills beginning later this year.
The community-funded watershed recovery and restoration initiative will supplement EWEB's McKenzie River Source Protection Program to safeguard drinking water for Eugene residents by addressing immediate risks such as erosion from high burn areas and redevelopment along the river, as well as longer-term resiliency investments to restore floodplain areas that are critical to water quality and habitat.
The 2020 Holiday Farm Fire caused extensive damage to the McKenzie watershed, by reducing tree cover and creating toxic ash, debris, and sediment that can wash into the river, degrading drinking water quality and increasing treatment costs.
In recent storm events, enhanced monitoring in the river has detected fire-related increases in metals, nutrients, solids, bacteria, and organic carbon. Fortunately, these impacts have been short-lived, and the water quality issues experienced so far are well within the capacity of EWEB's treatment plant to handle. Read more about your drinking water quality.
The Watershed Recovery Fee will be assessed to all residential and commercial customers based on meter size. For most residential and business customers, the fee will be a flat $3 per month (based on a 1-inch or smaller water meter). Some customers, such as large businesses and those with extensive irrigation needs, will pay more ($4.50 to $30 per month) based on meter size.
The fee will go into effect mid-2021 and will be in place for 60 months (5 years), at which time it will automatically sunset.
EWEB Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the fee that will raise $12 million over a five-year period to fund critical response and recovery efforts.
"I fully support the fee and view this as money well spent," said EWEB Board President Mindy Schlossberg, who represents the entire city in the at-large position. "It's our responsibility to take care of watershed. I'm proud of the work EWEB is doing and I think this will serve as a model for many other communities who recognize that wildfires are becoming more and more common."
Over more than a decade of outreach and research, customers have expressed a clear and unchanging priority—ensuring safe, reliable drinking water remains the most important EWEB program.
The community-funded watershed recovery and restoration initiative will supplement EWEB's McKenzie River Source Protection Program and provide financial resources to ensure that our community's most basic need for clean, safe, and abundant drinking water is reliably met.
EWEB is exploring ways to mitigate the fee's impact on limited-income customers. We will share more details about the Watershed Recovery Fee with all customers in the coming weeks and months.
Learn more about protecting drinking water in the aftermath of the Holiday Farm Fire.
500 East Fourth Ave.
Eugene, OR 97401
800-841-5871
541-685-7000
Open Monday-Friday
Phone hours: 9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.