
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 MoreThe community-funded initiative will protect drinking water and help restore the health of the 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 MoreWe are fortunate in Eugene to enjoy exceptional drinking water. For over a century, our community has benefitted from a pristine watershed, abundant supply, and safe and reliable delivery to homes and businesses.
None of this has happened by accident. Generations before us made smart, sustainable decisions so that we can enjoy safe, clean drinking water today. And now we have the opportunity and responsibility to do the same for the next generation of Eugene residents.
Today, our community's drinking water is susceptible to threats from earthquake, wildfire, harmful algal blooms, pollution, and aging infrastructure. EWEB's source-to-tap drinking water programs are helping keep our water systems prepared and adaptable to future changes.
We have invested more than $30 million upgrading and expanding our Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant. We are replacing water mains, improving pump stations, building new storage tanks, planning for a second filtration plant on the Willamette River, and developing neighborhood emergency water stations.
These projects comprise the backbone of the water system that serves all of Eugene-200,000 people-and would be needed after an earthquake in order to meet critical community needs, including fire suppression, health and emergency response, and drinking water distribution points.
As 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.
In the aftermath of the Holiday Farm Fire, the safety and security of our community's source of drinking water is at risk. Wildfire can dramatically increase erosion in forests by reducing tree cover, causing ash, debris, and sediment to wash into the river. The Holiday Farm Fire damage to the watershed has the potential to degrade water quality, increase treatment costs, and reduce the production capacity of the Hayden Bridge treatment plant for years to come if restoration efforts are not undertaken in key areas.
EWEB made the decision as soon as it was safe to enter the fire-impacted area that we would take early action to protect water quality. In a matter of days, EWEB, McKenzie River Trust, McKenzie Watershed Council, the Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District, and other Pure Water Partners began working with landowners to keep toxic ash and hazardous materials from entering the river. We worked with our federal partners to get additional water quality monitoring equipment installed, which alerts us to high flows and sediment in the river hours before that water heads downstream so we can adjust treatment practices if necessary.
Now we are beginning more intensive restoration efforts using thousands of native plants provided by the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. Pure Water Partners will replant nearly 100 acres of high-priority burned riparian and floodplain areas. In addition, EWEB is creating incentive programs to help residents who lost homes in the fire to rebuild while reducing the impacts of development on the McKenzie River.
We undertake this work with the support and guidance of our Board of Commissioners, who represent our customer-owners. 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.
Thanks to years of efforts to manage costs and operate more efficiently, EWEB has the financial headroom to get this critical work started immediately; water cash reserves are being used to get boots on the ground and fund priority restoration projects in the short-term. But the long-term work of planning and funding watershed restoration will require extensive financial resources through public and private partnerships to ensure that our community's most basic need for clean, safe, and abundant water is reliably met.
Funding could be put to use to encourage residents to rebuild homes and septic systems outside of critical riparian zones, support firewise planning on residential properties as well as large-scale reforestation projects, or transition properties of high environmental value into conservation management for improved forest health and other ecosystem benefits.
As we have for decades, EWEB will take a strong leadership role in protecting our community's drinking water source. And we are not alone. In addition to funding through existing EWEB budgets, we are applying for grants through FEMA and reaching out to our State partners to secure additional funding.
We are also investigating additional ways for customers to contribute to shared stewardship and restoration efforts. At the March EWEB Board meeting, Commissioners will consider a 2021 budget amendment to fund restoration work which could include a dedicated Watershed Recovery Charge on customer bills.
The security of our water supply is tied to the health of the entire McKenzie watershed, and all of us who rely on and benefit from the McKenzie River will have important roles in meeting the challenges ahead. When communities invest in drinking water source protection, they invest in the long-term health and quality of life of their citizens, and the local economy.
Watershed protection is the first and most fundamental step to protecting drinking water. Today's investments will save future costs in the form of increased treatment of fire-related contaminants and ensure that the McKenzie river remains wild and pure as well as provides the recreation, tourism, habitat, and multiple other benefits we might otherwise take for granted. Working together, we can rebuild stronger and smarter to safeguard this vital resource for generations to come.
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.