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EWEB customers use more than twice as much water in the hot, dry summer months, compared to the cold, rainy winter months. The higher summer water use can almost assuredly be attributed to customers watering their lawns and gardens.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners meet on the first Tuesday of the month.
Find Out MoreTo maintain the reliability customers have come to know and trust, EWEB must address an aging infrastructure bubble.
Find Out MoreGreenpower Grants, a program funded by voluntary Greenpower customer subscriptions is currently accepting applications. The grant will fund a high-impact project that increase the use of renewable energy sources, the adoption of emerging technologies, clean energy education and reduce or offset our community's carbon footprint.
Find Out MoreEugene is one of the largest cities on the west coast with only a single source of drinking water, the McKenzie River. And though the McKenzie is a pure, reliable water source, EWEB will secure a second source ensure resiliency in the future, planning to build a water treatment plant on the Willamette River, upstream of Eugene and Springfield.
Find Out MoreEWEB has awarded nearly $125,000 in grant funds to local organizations that promote electric mobility and reduce community carbon emissions.
Find Out MoreYou may have noticed a plaque along the sidewalk on East 4th Avenue near the entrance to the employee parking lot at EWEB’s former headquarters building. It commemorates Wiley Griffon. He’s not considered the first Black resident of Eugene. But he is the first one mentioned by name, according to scholars.
Find Out MoreWorld Pulses Day is celebrated on February 10, and is a day to celebrate and spread information on the environmental and personal health benefits of pulses, aka beans, peas and lentils.
Find Out MoreEWEB makes electric mobility available to anyhone though e-bike rebates, car sharing and grants for local organizations with electric mobility projects.
Find Out MoreEnergy Efficiency tips to help you reduce your energy usage for National Cut your Energy Costs Day
Find Out MoreAt Alton Baker Park this week, Eugene 4J elementary students bid farewell to baby salmon they’d raised from eggs in their classrooms this fall. The activity was part of the Salmon Education Program funded by EWEB grants.
Find Out MoreEWEB is developing a plan to ensure that Eugene has a sufficient supply of reliable, affordable and clean electricity in the decades ahead, and is inviting the community to participate in the process.
Find Out MoreEWEB has joined 10 other Western utilities are to help ensure clean energy resources will be adequate to serve the growing demand in the region, while also managing costs and maintaining reliability for customers.
Find Out MoreOn a chilly November day, third graders from Adams Elementary School in Eugene learned about the lifecycle of native salmon on a field trip to Lake Creek near Triangle Lake. The field trips take place all month as part of a program funded by EWEB grants. EWEB dedicates a portion of customer rates to inspiring kids to explore the wonders of science and learn about watershed health, water quality, and emergency preparedness.
Find Out MoreHundreds of landowners in the McKenzie River valley are working with EWEB to prevent future fires and protect the river by replanting burned properties and removing fuels like dead trees and underbrush.
Find Out MoreJune 28, 2022
A new digital fire lookout tower will soon be able to spot small fires before they threaten communities and infrastructure in the upper McKenzie River Valley, thanks to a new ALERTWildfire camera installed Monday on a communications tower owned and operated by EWEB.
The camera, which is mounted on an EWEB communications tower that provides radio communication for EWEB’s Carmen-Smith hydroelectric project, will provide a live feed viewable by anyone at www.alertwildfire.org. This is the first ALERTWildfire camera in the area impacted by the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire.
ALERTWildfire is a project led by three universities, including the Oregon Hazards Lab at the University of Oregon, to provide cameras in wildlands that can help firefighters discover, monitor and contain wildfires. The first ALERTWildfire camera was installed in 2013 in Nevada, and the project now has more than 1,000 cameras across the American West.
“Early detection, especially in remote areas with steep terrain, is important for both emergency responders and the public, so they have time to make plans to stay out of harm’s way,” said Jeannine Parisi, EWEB’s resiliency manager. “That’s why we’re working with the University of Oregon to provide the kind of long-distance visibility that any community member can access and quickly report if they see a wildfire.”
EWEB is offering space on its tower – which provides radio communications for EWEB’s Carmen-Smith hydroelectric project – as part of the utility’s wildfire mitigation activities. EWEB’s Board of Commissioners reviewed the utility’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan in June and is scheduled to vote on it in July. The plan will then be submitted to the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, as required by law.
Other elements of EWEB’s wildfire mitigation plan include inspecting power poles and pruning vegetation along 250 miles of power lines every year. EWEB is hardening infrastructure by replacing some wood poles with iron ones, changing the fluid in transformers to a less flammable material and consolidating the wires on poles to reduce the risk of sparking. In the coming years, EWEB will continue to enhance designs and construction techniques through a lens of wildfire mitigation to limit the risk of a fire igniting or damaging systems.
“I'm really pleased to see the quick action installing more cameras using modern technology that will allow more eyes watching, and real-time visual access for firefighters to see what's happening and plan their response. This is one of a number of new cameras that will be added, and EWEB got on board right away. Oregonians will immediately be able to see the benefit of the new cameras,” said Rep. Nancy Nathanson (District 13).
On Monday, June 27, the wildfire camera was installed on top of the 190-foot-tall communications tower approximately 65 miles east of Eugene. Information technology company Elevate Technology Group installed the camera – its fourth wildfire camera in Oregon – for free. Elevate is also providing a backup internet connection on the tower. To install the camera, an Elevate crew member ascended the 190-foot tower to bolt on the camera, spending 4 to 6 hours off the ground. The Elevate team rigged ropes to pull up the basketball-sized, 75-pound camera and its mounting equipment.
The camera’s lens has a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains and can see 40 miles into the distance during the day and about 120 miles at night, though the rugged terrain around it will most likely block some of that view. The camera’s housing contains a heater and fan to remove fog and ice. The camera will also have near-infrared viewing abilities so it can detect the light resulting from a wildfire during dark hours.
The live camera feed will begin a few days after installation.
With high-quality information about the size and severity of wildfires, emergency responders can better marshal resources to contain wildfires or evacuate at-risk areas.
“There used to be hundreds of fire lookout towers staffed by people across the American West, watching for fires. We don’t have that anymore, but what we do have now is a growing network of digital lookouts in these wildfire cameras,” said Douglas Toomey, a professor of earth sciences at the UO, and the director of the Oregon Hazards Lab, which is partnering on the project. “Preventing the most destructive wildfires requires spotting them before they morph into bigger blazes – even if those fires start in a remote location.”
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