Related News
Related News
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Community members can test out climate-friendly e-bikes at E-Bike Expo on Saturday
EWEB encourages Eugene residents to ride into summer on clean, accessible e-bikes, with a $300 e-bike rebate.
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EWEB bids a fond farewell to College Hill Reservoir and prepares for modern drinking water storage tanks
Several hundred Eugene residents came together on May 30 for a Farewell Celebration at EWEB’s College Hill Reservoir before demolition and construction to build modern drinking water storage tanks begins later this year.
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EWEB invests in satellite-based forestry analytics for vegetation management
EWEB maintains over 1,300 miles of overhead transmission and distribution lines. To aid crews in identifying hazardous vegetation growth in a sometimes heavily forested service territory, EWEB is utilizing a new satellite-based forestry analytics software called Overstory.
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Tips to stay cool while saving money this summer
June is quickly approaching, and that means summer weather is just around the corner. Before you turn up the air conditioning and see an increase in your utility bill, try these tips to prepare your home for warmer weather to keep your home cool.
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Drinking Water Week 2024
This week, we celebrate the value of clean, safe water, the importance of water infrastructure, and the critical role of water professionals.
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EWEB offering additional energy efficiency supplement to qualified customers
Current EWEB residential electric customers may qualify to double their energy efficiency rebates with a limited time supplement.
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EWEB opens application for 2024 Electric Mobility Community Grants
Grant awards of up to $30,000 to cover costs associated with electric mobility projects.
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Upgrades to Eugene's downtown electric network continue
You may have noticed construction this week on the corner of 7th and Pearl Street. That’s because crews replaced a corroded, aging vault with an innovative, new Voltek vault. The Voltek design allows for the new infrastructure to be built inside of the existing aging vault. We’re able to install the new vault while the cables are still energized, minimizing disruption to customers and traffic while cutting construction time in half.
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The Big Freeze 2024: After Action Report
Winter 2024 was one for the records books, and we'll look back on it for years to come and say, "That was a doozy!" The back-to-back January Ice Storms caused widespread damage to EWEB’s service territory, affecting approximately 38,000 customers. Preliminary repair costs were over $8 million, and additional repairs to transmission lines are still required.
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Fixing the Unseen: Water Pipeline Replacement in Unincorporated Eugene
Learn more about EWEB's methods for monitoring and replacing aged water pipelines.
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New tanks come online as EWEB modernizes water system
New drinking water storage tanks are one of several investments to ensure that EWEB can meet critical community needs in the event of an earthquake.
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Celebrate Earth Month by taking charge of your home's energy use
This Earth Month, learn how you can reduce your energy usage to help protect our planet and reduce carbon emissions.
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Spring Cleaning? How about Spring Emergency Preparedness!
Spring is officially here and that means the plants are blooming, the sun is (sometimes) shining, and the grass is green! We've had our fair share of severe weather already, but spring weather is notoriously unpredictable. While you're in the midst of spring cleaning and garden care, consider completing these emergency preparedness tasks.
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State of the McKenzie Watershed
EWEB’s Drinking Water Source Protection (DWSP) team says the McKenzie River continues to be an excellent source for drinking water.
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Nine days without power: My ice storm story as an EWEB customer and employee
While beautiful and peaceful, buying a home on the edge of the forest and surrounded by trees has its tradeoffs. Moving “upriver,” I knew there would be more threats to prepare for, including Mother Nature’s seasonal surprises.
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EWEB Taking Steps to Protect McKenzie River During Below Average Summer Stream Flows
May 12, 2020
The beautiful McKenzie River not only supports diverse recreation, vibrant farms, and abundant fish and wildlife, but it is also the sole source of drinking water for Eugene residents and a source of clean, reliable and affordable energy.
Hydropower is a form of renewable energy that uses water stored in dams, or flowing in rivers, to create electricity. Falling or flowing water spins a turbine, activating a generator that converts the energy into carbon-free electricity, which is then fed into the electrical grid to be used by Eugene homes and businesses. Nearly 80 percent of Eugene's power comes from hydroelectric projects throughout the Pacific Northwest.
EWEB owns three local, McKenzie River hydroelectric projects: Leaburg, Walterville and Carmen-Smith.
Under operating licenses issued by the Federal government, EWEB is permitted to divert a portion of the McKenzie River for power generation. The Walterville hydroelectric project is allowed to divert 2,577 cubic feet per second (cfs) into the Walterville canal and EWEB is required to maintain minimum instream flows in the bypassed reach of the McKenzie River of 1,000 cfs at all times.
However, in 2018 EWEB made an operational decision to voluntarily adjust the flow going into the Walterville canal during low flow years in order to maintain an additional 10 percent more flow in the river during the summer. Maintaining more flow in the river than in the canal improves fish migration and enhances water quality and recreational use during the summer months.
In mid-April, EWEB conducted our annual evaluation of snowpack data and summer stream forecasts and projected the McKenzie Basin will experience below-median stream flows during the upcoming summer. Data available at that time indicated that snowpack in the basin was roughly 94 percent of median. McKenzie River streamflow forecasts for the April to September period at Vida (the closest forecast station) were 92 percent of average.
Based on these forecasts, EWEB will begin adjusting flows into the Walterville canal following the annual Walterville Project maintenance outage that is currently scheduled for June 13-26, and will maintain the adjusted flows through October 2020.
"Our community's hydro projects place EWEB in a unique position to safeguard this valuable community resource," said EWEB generation manager Mike McCann. "Whether it's managing stream flows or partnering with community members to keep pollutants out of the river, we're always working to create a balance between watershed health and human use."
The Walterville powerhouse, located off Camp Creek Road northeast of Springfield, can generate up to 8.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power approximately 4,000 homes or roughly equal to about 3 percent of Eugene's average daily consumption of electricity.