City of Sweet Home: Fall 2024 Drawdown Update

September 11 2024 – City of Sweet Home: Fall 2024 Drawdown Update

FALL 2024 DRAWDOWN UPDATE

Hello, Sweet Home. We would like to provide you an update on the latest we know about the planned drawdown of Green Peter Reservoir for this year.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still under a court order requiring them to perform a drawdown this year. We don’t have an exact date yet, but the drawdown is anticipated to begin mid-October with Green Peter reaching its lowest level by November 15th. This is part of the Corps’ revised plan to shorten the length of the drawdown compared to last year, but we are still anticipating lots of turbidity (very cloudy water) during at least the first week after November 15th. The Corps is required to hold this lower water level until January 15th, after which they can allow the reservoir to refill. If we experience a lot of rain like we did last year, it may refill sooner.

Our Public Works Department has taken many steps over the last year to prepare for the drawdown this year including several upgrades at our water treatment plant, but we may still experience some residual chlorine smell due to the processes needed to clean the water, or we may see some discoloration of the water. We will be monitoring and testing the water constantly to ensure we are meeting safe drinking water standards just as we did last year but again, you may experience a different smell or color than you are used to. Our treatment plant will be staffed around the clock through the duration of the drawdown to ensure we have a good, safe water supply and we will keep the community updated if we see anything of concern.

The City of Sweet Home is also currently engaged in two lawsuits, one to stop the drawdowns and one to collect damages from the drawdowns. While the federal court system moves slowly and we may not be able to stop this year’s drawdown, we have made significant progress and will likely be going before the court to make our case about how challenging these drawdowns are for our community in the hopes that we will not experience another one in future years. We will keep the community updated on the progress of these cases as we are able, but please know that our ability to comment on open lawsuits is limited.

We know this will be hard on Sweet Home again this year, but we are ready to meet the challenge, and we are so grateful for this community that has stood behind us and provided support and information as we have built our cases. Please remember that the City of Sweet Home does not have control over the drawdowns and these legal cases are our only course of action to try to stop them.

If you have additional questions, please email wqinfo@sweethomeor.gov.

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