WaterWatch of Oregon
Programs
Comprehensive Streamflow Protection Initiative
Streamflow - In 1987 WW drafted & secured passage of the OR Instream Water Rights Act to create legal water rights for water flowing instream. In 2022, OR applied for 159 new instream water rights in the Rogue South Coast and Umpqua Basins. Forty-six of these are now final. protecting flows on the Rogue, Chetco and many important salmon- bearing tributary streams. Together with 80 new instream water rights recently secured on coastal streams, these results provide a potent form of natural climate insurance for the affected streams, fish and wildlife and people who depend on heathy streams and salmon. In terms of volumes of water protected and geographic range, this program is arguably the most comprehensive streamflow initiative in N America.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2022Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$607.2KFree Flowing Rivers Restoration Initiative
Free Flowing Rivers: 2022 saw major advances in protecting and restoring free flowing rivers in Oregon. WaterWatch secured three new voluntary agreements to eliminate seven obsolete barriers to salmon and steelhead in the Rogue and Umpqua basings, and raised over $1.6 million in private, state, and federal funds to pay for the skilled engineering and construction workers necessary to complete these projects. With partners, we completed post-project work on 2021's three-dam removal project in the Rogue Basin.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2022Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$256.2KWillamette River Water Protection Efforts
Willamette: WW has challenged in Multnomah County Circuit Court a "thermal trading" plan to offset water temperature impacts of new mun- icipal water withdrawals from the Willamette River, on ground that the plan underestimates the temperature impacts of the withdrawl and fails to include plans to offset those impacts. In the Willamette Basin, WW completed briefing and arguments in the OR Court of Appeals to uphold a Water Resources Commission Decision denying a permit for a large new dam and reservoir on Drift Creek, a tributary to the Pudding River providing habitat to fish including cutthroat trout and threatened steelhead. WW is also involved in a US Army Corps of Engineers process to reallocate 1.6M acre-feet of water stored behind Willamette Basin.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2022Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$58.5K
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