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EWEB Senior Environmental Specialist Nancy Toth – along with co-authors from other utilities and Oregon State University – won two awards from the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for their article recounting efforts to reduce water quality impacts of the 2020 Labor Day fires in Oregon.

The article, "Oregon's Unprecedented Labor Day 2020 Fires: Impacts and Response," describes the recovery and restoration strategies of three affected communities. Toth’s section outlines how EWEB leveraged partnerships with local landowners and environmental stewardship organizations to contain hazardous materials immediately after the fire and to restore the watershed to help it recover over the long term.

It also details the increased monitoring efforts EWEB implemented to support Water Operators’ efforts at the Hayden Bridge Water Treatment Plant.

The authors won the 2025 Distribution & Plant Operations Division Best Article Award and the 2025 Publications Award at the AWWA Annual Conference & Exposition last week. The only multiple-award winner at the national conference, this publication is an important contribution to source water protection as hotter and more destructive wildfires are a growing threat to drinking water sources and distribution systems. 

“The trust we built with both partner organizations and the community was vital for working together in the wake of the disaster,” Toth said. “Thanks to the time and effort we put into developing the collaborative Pure Water Partners Program, we were able to rapidly develop and deploy fire recovery and restoration strategies to mitigate some of the impacts of the Holiday Farm Fire.”

The article itself is an act of collaboration. Toth is the primary author; she coordinated with fellow source water protection professionals who responded to the 2020 Labor Day fires throughout Oregon.

The report also summarizes the responses of Medford Water to the Almeda Fire and South Obenchain Fire, and Detroit’s response to the Lionshead Fire. 

Together, these efforts represent the water supplies of more than 350,000 people. Each fire affected source water quality, water treatment, and water storage and distribution systems in unique ways. By combining these lessons learned, Toth hopes to encourage water professionals to build partnerships now – before disasters strike. 

“Drinking Water Source Protection is a collaborative endeavor, as most water providers do not own their entire watersheds. It is essential that we partner with local, state, and federal land management agencies, watershed councils, non-profit organizations and community members to ensure our source water is protected,” Toth said. “We are fortunate in the McKenzie Valley to have great working relationships – but they didn’t form overnight. Like any relationship, it takes time and following through with our responsibilities to build trust, and it’s hard to build trust in the midst of a disaster.”

Toth’s article was published in the May 2024 issue of Journal AWWA. Along with serving the Eugene and McKenzie Valley communities for 17 years through her work at EWEB, Toth also serves as a trustee in the Water Resources Sustainability Division of the AWWA and was a past Chair of the AWWA Source Water Protection Committee.

She also helped develop and oversee the Pure Water Partners Program, a collaborative effort formed in 2014 to protect drinking water quality and protect and restore riparian and floodplain habitats in the McKenzie River subbasin. PWP organizations include the McKenzie Watershed Council (MWC), Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District, McKenzie River Trust (MRT), Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, The Freshwater Trust, the University of Oregon, and the U.S. Forest Service (Willamette National Forest).

After the fire, EWEB led partners to form a Watershed Recovery Task Force to support restoration and recovery efforts on private, nonindustrial timberland and nonfederal public lands. The task force was integrated into Lane County’s emergency operations incident command structure to protect natural resources, develop and use best management practices, and to coordinate watershed recovery.

As soon as it was safe to enter the burned area, EWEB hired a contractor to stabilize private properties by pulling ash, debris, and other toxic materials away from the banks of the river and installing erosion control measures (such as wattles and silt fences) to prevent hazardous materials from running off into the waterways.

EWEB also focused real-time monitoring efforts from urban areas to burned areas, giving treatment plant operators early warning (4 to 6 hours) that contaminating materials were coming down the river, particularly during the fall rains that are typical of this area.

Treatment plant operators were able to optimize treatment and maintain drinking water quality despite the spikes in metals, nutrients, bacteria, sediment, and other contaminants in the initial rainstorms in November and December. It was fortunate that in fall 2020, the “first-flush” rains, which typically arrive in September and October, did not happen until November, giving responders more time to install erosion control measures on streamside properties. 

EWEB's treatment plant operators were able to effectively respond to the increased turbidity and suspended solids, and the treated water met all guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for safe drinking water.

Nearly five years since the Holiday Farm Fire, EWEB continues to monitor and restore areas that were heavily burned.

Although intense rains continue to produce the highest water quality concerns for EWEB’s water supply, some of the most worrisome water quality impacts to the McKenzie watershed have not occurred. Massive landslides due to destabilized slope conditions from burned soils and dead trees could severely contaminate the watershed and even divert or cut off flows, but so far haven’t happened.

EWEB and partners are working to reduce these threats by restoring floodplain habitats and installing large wood structures with downed trees to fortify heavily burned tributaries. These projects can act as buffers to slow the flow of water, contain contaminants, and let sediments drop out of the water. 

EWEB is currently working with the MWC, MRT, and U.S. Forest Service on the Quartz Creek Floodplain Enhancement Project in Finn Rock towards these ends.