Water managers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shared a pessimistic outlook on the agency’s 13 Willamette Valley reservoirs July 23.
According to the engineers, 2026 is the Willamette Valley’s sixth-driest year since 1980 and the second-driest since 2006, with both rainfall and snowpack down. That means Lane County’s reservoirs are well below their normal summer levels.
Agency officials said they face difficult decisions on when to hold or release water in order to balance the multiple Congressionally-directed purposes of the dams: managing flood risk, generating hydropower and supplying water for farming, drinking, navigation, recreation and ecological health…