Local governments in Marion County are calling on the federal government to pause its plans to draw down Detroit Lake to its lowest levels in history this fall.
Lowering the lake is part of an effort to help threatened Chinook salmon move more easily along the Santiam River. But some local water systems located downstream of the lake are worried it could make the water dirtier, potentially damaging their systems.
FILE: Detroit Lake sits at a low water level during its typical winter drawdown, in Detroit, Ore., on Dec. 6, 2025. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering a plan to gradually lower Detroit Lake to its lowest levels ever starting in the fall of 2026 in an effort to help threatened Chinook salmon swim downstream.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Now, systems in cities ranging from Salem to Stayton are asking the federal government to pause the plan until the potential impacts can be studied further.
Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron told OPB that smaller communities that use the reservoir for their water, like Stayton, can’t afford to prepare their system for more turbid waters.
“The smaller cities, they don’t have the money to do things to protect their system,” Cameron said.
Completed in 1953, Detroit Lake provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents in the Willamette Valley. It’s located in eastern Marion County, roughly an hour’s drive from Salem.
Stayton City Manager Julia Hajduk wrote to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Jan. 12, saying that the city’s water system is especially vulnerable to large quantities of sediment and turbidity, which could lead to large-scale damage.
Much of the concern at Detroit Lake stems from a drawdown at nearby Green Peter Lake in 2023. That led to excessively muddy water that strained water systems downstream and decimated the lake’s population of kokanee salmon, a non-native species.
The Army Corps, which oversees operations of Detroit Dam, has said it has a different plan for Detroit Lake. The lake would be lowered gradually year-over-year until the desired 55-foot drop is reached.
Greg Taylor, a supervisory fisheries biologist with the Army Corps, told OPB in December that they should avoid the high turbidity seen at Green Peter, located just south of Detroit.
“The idea there is that if we bring it down little by little, we’ll generate a little bit of turbidity, but not enough to impact the drinking water systems,” Taylor said. “It may take us a number of years to ultimately get to that target elevation.”
Marion County does not supply water itself, but many cities do throughout the county. In a Jan. 13 letter to the Army Corps, the county’s legal counsel wrote about potential widespread damage from turbidity. Detroit Lake typically reaches its lowest levels during the winter and begins to refill in February.
“The total collective cost to local governments in Marion County is expected to be millions of dollars to repair, replace, or find alternative water sources, plus preparations will take more time,” the county’s attorneys wrote. “A deep drawdown anytime in 2026 or 2027 would be catastrophic.”
Cameron did not rule out Marion County filing legal action to prevent the drawdown.
“Everything’s on the table,” he said.
