FILE: Detroit Lake at Detroit Lake State Park, April 14, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The city of Salem will decide on Monday whether to declare an emergency for its water system customers, due to the upcoming deep drawdown of the Detroit Lake Reservoir and its potential impacts on the North Santiam River.
Salem City Council’s resolution says elevated river turbidity levels as a result of the drawdown present a severe threat to the slow sand filters at its water treatment plant in Stayton, located about 16 miles southeast of downtown Salem, and thus a threat to its drinking water supply.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is requiring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct the drawdown in fall 2026, an effort of lowering the reservoir’s water to a historically low level in order to help endangered salmon.
The drawdown was initially planned for this year, but the Corps has moved the target date for at least a year as it gathers more information on the impacts.
Related: Reports: Muddy water from reservoir drawdowns strains Willamette Valley cities’ water treatment
Water treated at the Stayton facility is piped to Franzen Reservoir in Turner, Oregon, and then distributed across Salem.
The Salem Statesman Journal reported earlier this year that the drawdown could cause major issues for the Santiam Canyon, and could impact the drinking water for 200,000 people in Salem and Stayton.
In June, the city of Stayton formally urged the USACE to reconsider the drawdown, saying that “a deep drawdown, and indeed any drawdown that releases a significant amount of sediment, will have catastrophic consequences for the city.”
“Sediments will cause the city’s drinking water treatment plant to fail, leaving the city’s residents, emergency services, wastewater treatment system, among other critical water users, without water,” the letter reads.
The city of Salem also says available alternative water sources could only marginally meet demand during the deep drawdown.
In addition to reduced quality of the city’s drinking water, Salem’s proposed emergency declaration notes that decreased water supply could impact firefighting resources.
The emergency declaration would formally allow Salem’s city manager to activate the city’s emergency operations center, dedicate city funds to reducing the threat, and to work with others to develop a more resilient alternative water supply.
Salem City Council will meet Monday at 6 p.m., at the Salem Public Library, to consider adopting the emergency resolution. Attendees can also join the meeting remotely by using the city’s signup form.
And the meeting will be streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.
