On August 7, 2023, Winchester Water Control District (WWCD) began fixing the run-down Winchester Dam. Regardless of much more extensive current claims made to the general public by WWCD about these repair work, WWCD agents formerly informed state and federal regulators that the repair work would be ” to the minimum degree essential to remove recognized and fairly prepared for dam security shortages at the dam.” (DOWL Technical Memo, April 4, 2022, p. 4). On this basis, WWCD got approvals from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, NOAA Fisheries, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue with the repair work. State and federal firms released the authorizations even after river supporters consistently raised issues and explained numerous abnormalities at the same time (read about these irregularities and concerns here).
WWCD has actually employed the residential/commercial basement repair work business of their own board president, Terra Firma Structure Systems, as the main dam repair work specialist, in spite of the truth that his business has no experience in dam repair work.
Given that the start of building and construction, river supporters have actually recorded and reported numerous evident legal and allowing infractions to regulative firms. These consist of amassive fish kill of native Pacific lamprey resulting from woefully inadequate salvage efforts by WWCD during the dam reservoir drawdown. River supporters think that WWCD’s specialist continues to breach guidelines and allows planned to secure fish, wildlife, and water quality.
River supporters have actually been pushing this problem in part since damage from the previous Winchester Dam repair work was ravaging and well-documented. According to state detectives, contamination from the 2018 repair work at the dam broken down water environment, eliminated fish, and damaged the main drinking water source for the City of Roseburg and the Umpqua Basin Water Association– serving roughly 37,700 individuals integrated. Private investigators likewise discovered that dam repair work were carried out without following understood finest management practices, even after authorities supplied WWCD with info beforehand on how to secure water quality and fish.
This environmental catastrophe is occurring now since federal government firms have actually regularly stopped working to hold WWCD liable. Please do something about it by sending out a letter to your state and federal agents asking to totally examine these reported infractions and, if corroborated, bring enforcement action to the maximum degree possible.
Together, we can end the continuous damage from Winchester Dam at last. Please motivate your chosen leaders to support the elimination of Winchester Dam to bring back a free-flowing North Umpqua River benefiting the fish, wildlife, and individuals who depend on it!
