Water rights in Washington state are pretty much handled the way things are in an old Western – finders, keepers. Here are six things you need to know...

After an absence of more than 40 years, adult salmon could be swimming in the upper reaches of the Deschutes River system this year.

Gail Achterman, a Portland lawyer whose career as a public servant — which included serving as the first executive director for the Deschutes River Conservancy — spanned nearly 40 years, has died at age 62.

For years now, an effort has been underway to reintroduce steelhead and salmon to Central Oregon’s Deschutes River Basin. One of the biggest challenges has been the Crooked River.

First things first: Mirror Pond needs to be dredged. At least that's what the people studying the sedimentation problem in the pond say.

Bend has until September or October to decide whether it will proceed with the Bridge Creek water system, City Manager Eric King said Saturday.

Momentum is swinging toward putting a bond before voters in November to fund the dredging of Bend’s Mirror Pond.

A dry end to 2011 left a low snowpack around the Deschutes and Crooked rivers basin, prompting the Natural Resources Conservation Service to warn Tuesday of possible water shortages come summer.

For years now, the silt has continued to pile up in Bend’s Mirror Pond while officials have struggled to find a solution.

Bend City councilors are hoping the state takes pity on them and gives them the chance to save local ratepayers money by knocking $29 million off a $68.2 million project.