In the Media

Experts in fields ranging from natural resources economics to engineering debated the potential impacts of the city of Bend’s $58 million to $78 million reconstruction of its Bridge Creek water system Monday night during a forum at the Oregon State University-Cascades campus.

Waist deep in the murky water, Skip Paznokas braced himself with his wading stick as the Crooked River flowed around him.

A delayed water rate increase in Sisters has cost the city about $90,000 in lost revenues.

The Bend Park & Recreation District has discovered a potential obstacle in its effort to modify the Colorado Avenue dam, where a woman died five years ago.

A second new exhibit will open quietly Saturday at the High Desert Museum. While no butterflies will flutter or hawks swoop through the space, it still tells an important story.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is proposing more strict rules about the amount of more than 100 toxic chemicals that can be released into waters of the state, which could impact a handful of cities like Prineville as well as agricultural or forestry operations in the future

Bend’s $58 million surface water project is actually quite small. Providing just 7.6 million gallons per day (mgd) of reliable capacity, the project will hardly dent Bend’s long-term demands, which will be supplied almost entirely by wells in any event.

The snowpack in the Upper Deschutes and Crooked River basins started strong but has fallen below average thanks to a warm January.

A proposal to create a wetland just south of Dillon Falls along the Deschutes River Trail has caused the U.S. Forest Service, irrigation districts and the Oregon Water Resources Department to examine how much water the project would consume, and whether the federal agency needs to purchase water rights to move forward.