Related News
Related News
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EWEB opens application for 2024 Electric Mobility Community Grants
Grant awards of up to $30,000 to cover costs associated with electric mobility projects.
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The Big Freeze 2024: After Action Report
Winter 2024 was one for the records books, and we'll look back on it for years to come and say, "That was a doozy!" The back-to-back January Ice Storms caused widespread damage to EWEB’s service territory, affecting approximately 38,000 customers. Preliminary repair costs were over $8 million, and additional repairs to transmission lines are still required.
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Fixing the Unseen: Water Pipeline Replacement in Unincorporated Eugene
Learn more about EWEB's methods for monitoring and replacing aged water pipelines.
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New tanks come online as EWEB modernizes water system
New drinking water storage tanks are one of several investments to ensure that EWEB can meet critical community needs in the event of an earthquake.
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Spring Cleaning? How about Spring Emergency Preparedness!
Spring is officially here and that means the plants are blooming, the sun is (sometimes) shining, and the grass is green! We've had our fair share of severe weather already, but spring weather is notoriously unpredictable. While you're in the midst of spring cleaning and garden care, consider completing these emergency preparedness tasks.
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EWEB General Manager Delivers 2024 State of the Utility
General Manager Frank Lawson delivered his address at the March 5 public Board of Commissioners meeting
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State of the McKenzie Watershed
EWEB’s Drinking Water Source Protection (DWSP) team says the McKenzie River continues to be an excellent source for drinking water.
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Nine days without power: My ice storm story as an EWEB customer and employee
While beautiful and peaceful, buying a home on the edge of the forest and surrounded by trees has its tradeoffs. Moving “upriver,” I knew there would be more threats to prepare for, including Mother Nature’s seasonal surprises.
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Preparation and Resilience: How EWEB Maintained Water Service During Recent Ice Storm
Learn about the projects and people that helped EWEB keep water flowing throughout the extreme weather event.
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EWEB achieves power restoration milestone over the weekend
Crews have so far restored power for 92% of customers who originally lost power at the height of the ice storm.
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Reenergized McKenzie River Valley transmission lines allow EWEB crews to restore power upriver
On Friday, a majority of EWEB crews tackled power restoration efforts upriver, after federally managed transmission lines were reenergized Thursday.
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EWEB estimates one week to complete power system restoration
On Wednesday, EWEB crews restored power for about 10,000 customers by repairing large equipment first.
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Second round of ice and ensuing thaw prompt mass power outages
On Wednesday, all EWEB crews, who have been working nonstop since Saturday, traversed EWEB’s service territory assessing the damage and restoring transmission lines and main power feeders.
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Power restored at EWEB’s water treatment plant
Crews restored electric power at EWEB's Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant Monday evening, allowing operators to switch off the generators and rely again on the grid. Meanwhile, EWEB crews brace for additional outages amidst second round of ice and during the coming thaw.
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EWEB crews focusing on restoring electric service for Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant
With more ice forecasted for Tuesday, all EWEB crews are in the field assessing outages and restoring power.
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EWEB Protects Drinking Water from Fire Impacts
September 07, 2021
It's been a year since the devastating wildfire, buffeted by fierce easterly winds, swept down the McKenzie River Valley, destroying homes, forests and damaging one of the most pristine watersheds in the country.
As fire containment efforts accelerated in the weeks after the fire started, the Eugene Water & Electric Board worked to restore power to thousands of upriver residents and launched a series of actions to stabilize the charred banks of the McKenzie River - the sole source of drinking water for roughly 200,000 people in the Eugene metro area.
EWEB, McKenzie Watershed Council, McKenzie River Trust, the Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District and other members of Pure Water Partners banded together to work with landowners to keep toxic ash and other hazardous materials from entering the river.
The partnerships, formed through EWEB's leadership to protect and enhance drinking water quality almost two decades ago, proved essential as on-the-ground stabilization efforts raced against the subsequent rains and the erosion and sedimentation into the river that follows.
"Back in 2000, Eugene was one of the first larger metropolitan areas to take its watershed as part of its water infrastructure and to recognize that," said Karl Morgenstern, EWEB's Watershed Restoration Program Manager.
"Now we have the trust and relationships to do projects like large-scale floodplain restoration," Morgenstern said. "Other places are facing disasters and those relationships are not in place, and they're having to build those in the midst of a disaster and that just adds complexity and delays action."
The McKenzie River Trust organized volunteers to receive donations for people who had to evacuate the fires. They filled Springfield High School's football stadium with clothes, food, camping gear, and hope. EWEB's five elected commissioners immediately allocated an additional $1 million to the Watershed Source Protection Program budget to support stabilization and restoration efforts. Federal, state and local agencies, including the Willamette National Forest, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Oregon Department of Forestry and Lane County also provided financial and logistical aid.
But as the fire burned itself out and first responders departed to handle other disasters, it became clear that the long-term recovery of the watershed and its people would be left largely to the local community.
This past spring, EWEB commissioners approved a new recovery and restoration initiative to supplement the utility's Drinking Water Source Protection Program. The Watershed Recovery Fee went into effect in July and is assessed to all residential and commercial water 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). The fee automatically sunsets in five years, and is expected to generate about $12 million.
The Drinking Water Source Protection Program safeguards drinking water for Eugene residents by addressing immediate risks such as erosion from high intensity 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 fire caused extensive damage to the 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.
"We are here for the duration," said EWEB CEO and General Manager Frank Lawson. "Unlike a FEMA-type response, which is typically short-term support, we are planning for a significant recovery. The additional fire restoration work is intended to supplement EWEB's ongoing watershed protection that is part of our responsibility as an organization with a significant presence in the McKenzie Watershed."
In the year since the fire, Pure Water Partners continues its work with more than 270 landowners in the McKenzie River Valley to assess fire damage, control invasive species, reduce fuels to support Firewise best practices, and install additional erosion control measures. The partnership has replanted 89 riparian properties with 210,000 native trees and shrubs to begin restoring McKenzie River riparian zones.
The security of the community's water supply is tied directly to the health of the McKenzie Watershed. By investing in the Drinking Water Source Protection Program, EWEB, its customers and other members of Pure Water Partners are investing in the long-term health and quality of life for residents and the local economy.
EWEB's presence in the McKenzie Valley has lasted for more than 110 years, and the utility will continue investing in the upriver community and the watershed for generations to come.