
Electric Outage: 1-844-484-2300
Water Emergency: 541-685-7595
EWEB Main: 541-685-7000
Electric mobility seems to be everywhere these days, but does availability equal accessibility? Here at EWEB we’ve determined that the answer is ‘no’ and are working to bridge that gap through EV car shares, community grants and electric bike rebates.
Find Out MoreIn Eugene, we take pride in knowing we have one of the cleanest power portfolios in the nation. Roughly 90% of Eugene's power comes from carbon-free hydroelectric energy. And EWEB has a long history offering robust conversation programs. But we wanted to do more, so we launched Lead Green, a suite of programs for climate innovators looking to support renewable energy and take action on climate change. In the year since Lead Green was launched, we've accomplished a lot we can be proud of.
Find Out MoreLearn some of the many ways EWEB customers support local schools and help inspire kids to explore the wonders of watershed health and clean energy resources.
Find Out MoreOur skilled journeymen are experts in their field, with thousands of training hours and real-world experiences.
Find Out MoreBy upgrading substations – key nodes in the electric grid – EWEB is investing today in a resilient electric grid for the future.
Find Out MoreA wrap up of the May 2nd EWEB Board of Commissioners Meeting
Find Out MoreSeventh graders in the Bethel School District put their handmade wind turbines to the test in a wind power challenge supported by EWEB grants last week.
Find Out MoreThe application period is now open for the Electric Mobility Community Grants. Mobility Grants of up to $25,000 will be awared to five nonprofits, schools and academic intitutions, government and other public agencies to cover costs associated with their electric mobility projects.
Find Out MoreEWEB's Greenpower subscribers voted to award this year's Greenpower Grant to Friends of Trees, a local nonprofit that brings trees to areas of Eugene and Springfield with low tree equity.
Find Out MoreFollow along as the Currin Substation, the first of 10 substations in 10 years, is rebuilt from the ground up as part of EWEB's Capital Improvement Plan for major infrastructure investments to rehabilitate, replace, and install new infrastructure.
Find Out MoreToday and every day, we celebrate and honor the hard work, innovation and dedication of electrical line workers.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners discussed prefunding Leaburg, the 2022 State of the Watershed report, and the General Manager's performance evaluation at their April 4th, 2023 meeting.
Find Out MoreIt’s spring-- the time of year when birds are nesting in our trees. EWEB crews take special care to avoid disrupting birds when they’re trimming trees. But tree trimming is a necessary part of delivering safe and reliable power. We went out with a crew to find out how it's done.
Find Out MoreEWEB is excited to announce the eligible candidates for the 2023 Greenpower Grant! The winner of the Greenpower Grant will be voted on by Greenpower subscribers. Learn more about each origanization and their proposal before casting your vote.
Find Out MoreCrews are identifying and addressing equipment failures before wildfire season and doing so mitigates risk of fire ignition.
Find Out MoreOctober 20, 2022
Today EWEB joined over 44 million organizations across the nation in the Great ShakeOut – the world’s largest earthquake drill.
The event is an important reminder of what to do during an earthquake: Drop, Cover, and Hold On. But getting through an actual earthquake is only one step of many to be prepared for one.
EWEB is preparing for earthquakes by upgrading our facilities to modern seismic standards, building emergency water stations in case an earthquake disrupts our ability to supply water for the people of Eugene, and partnering with the ShakeAlert program to monitor our hydropower facilities at Leaburg and Carmen-Smith.
Working with the Oregon Hazards Lab, EWEB installed seismometers at the Leaburg Canal and on Smith Ridge above the Smith Reservoir. These sensors measure acceleration from seismic events, allowing EWEB to contribute information to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), the foundation of the ShakeAlert early warning system. EWEB also benefits from sensors installed throughout the region, receiving advance ShakeAlert warnings of seismic events that could impact our facilities.
At the Leaburg Canal, the seismic sensor incorporates an accelerometer which sends local ground motion data to PNSN’s analytic servers. These servers use the data to instantly determine the epicenter location and magnitude of the seismic event. Potentially damaging events then trigger the release of ShakeAlert warnings. EWEB is developing control systems capable of using these ShakeAlert warnings to take automatic protective action, such as opening or closing gates to reduce water levels in our water retaining canal facilities. ShakeAlert also sends alerts based on ground motion data from the broader regional network at large in a predictive manner to help EWEB operators understand the implications of a far-away earthquake on EWEB facilities.
This month’s 4.4 earthquake near the Green Peter Reservoir north of Sweet Home is a good example of how ShakeAlert helps EWEB’s generation facilities. Within seconds (8.8 seconds, to be exact), the ShakeAlert system sent our operators messages estimating how that earthquake’s shaking would propagate across the Calapooia watershed on to the McKenzie Valley to affect our facilities.
According to the ShakeAlert report, Eugene and our upriver facilities would have felt shaking ten seconds after the earthquake began and at only a two on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) – a descriptive indicator of earthquake intensity based on peoples’ felt experiences of shaking during the event. An MMI of two is “Weak,” and “Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings.”
“Our local emergency managers called EWEB to check in on the status of our facilities,” said EWEB Generation Engineering Supervisor Mark Zinniker. “The ShakeAlert contour map was really helpful to show them that the amount of shaking was not significant to our facilities.”
Members of the public can sign up for ShakeAlert notifications, too, for events above a 4.5 magnitude on the Richtor scale. ShakeAlert notifications are also built into the Android OS.
“We monitored the situation and ShakeAlert did exactly what we wanted it to do, but this event did not meet the threshold for public communication, which is 4.5 magnitude and above,” said Robert de Groot, ShakeAlert Coordinator for Communication, Education, Outreach and Technical Management.
With today’s Great ShakeOut drill as an inspiration, it’s a great opportunity to talk about earthquake preparedness with your family. Do you know the Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety? Take a moment to secure your space, plan to be safe, organize supplies, and minimize financial hardships before the next big one shakes things up for real. EWEB’s Pledge to Prepare program is a good starting place for all kinds of emergencies.
Para asistencia en español llame al 541-685-7000, presione 9
Mailing Address: 4200 Roosevelt Blvd., Eugene, OR 97402
Phone: 541-685-7000
Toll free: 800-841-5871
Email: eweb.answers@eweb.org
Customer service phone hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday