Bend and Warm Springs leaders outline joint work on Deschutes Basin water rights, mitigation and updated science

Bend City Council and Warm Springs Tribal Council members met in a joint session to review progress on collaborative work addressing water-right transfers, the Deschutes Basin Groundwater Mitigation Program and the need for updated basin science.

The meeting opened with presentations from Mike Bittner, Bend’s Water Services Director, and Josh Newton, a tribal attorney, who said the councils have used a memorandum of understanding to create regular government-to-government consultation and a staff-level process to review water-right transfers in the Deschutes Basin.

“The Deschutes Basin is one of the most well studied basins in all of Oregon, and we really want to keep it that way. But our science is aging,” Mike Bittner said, urging coordinated investment in updated modeling to inform decision-making.

Josh Newton said the tribe views the consultation as central to basin management. “This is consultation. It’s government to government that they are co-manager of these resources,” Newton said, describing treaty-reserved rights the tribe holds in parts of the basin and the legal complexity that creates alongside state regulation.

Why it matters: The Deschutes Basin has recurring water-right transfer applications, and the city and tribe said they want to lead a coordinated effort to refine mitigation rules and the underlying science before the program’s statutory review and the next legislative windows. Officials noted the Groundwater Mitigation Program is capped at a total allocation and scheduled to sunset in 2029, creating a timetable for policy work.

Key discussion points - Review of city water-right transfer applications: Staff from both governments have met repeatedly to allow tribal review of Bend’s recent applications and to build a shared record for consultation. - Deschutes Basin Groundwater Mitigation Program: City staff described the program as central to allowing groundwater use while obliging mitigations to offset impacts on the Deschutes River system. Bittner said the program was created with “bookends” to evaluate whether it should continue beyond the current timeline; participants noted the program is near a 200 cubic foot-per-second cap of total allocation and set to be reviewed before its 2029 sunset. - Science update: Officials said basin hydrology and groundwater models are outdated in places and that more geographically fine-scale data are needed to detect localized impacts, especially near Redmond and the Crooked River. Josh Newton and tribal representatives expressed concern about how canal-lining and additional groundwater pumping could produce unanticipated local effects on surface flows and fish habitat.

Next steps and planning City and tribal staff proposed a sequence of workshops and the creation of a small working group to draft possible changes to mitigation rules and to scope an updated groundwater science program. Bittner and Newton said they hope to develop draft language and a technical plan that can be included in the Oregon Water Resources Department’s report to the Legislature due in 2026, with an eye to the 2027 legislative session.

On cost and timing: When asked for a budget estimate for updated groundwater science, tribal and city representatives said the figure is not yet finalized but will likely be “at least hundreds of thousands of dollars” and that staff will produce a tighter estimate once a scope is defined.

Legal and jurisdictional context Newton and others framed the work as occurring where state water law and tribal treaty rights overlap. Newton referenced the historical mismatch between early Oregon water statutes and federally reserved tribal water rights, and described the consultation as a needed co-management approach to avoid conflict as demand increases in the basin.

What officials did not decide No formal votes or policy adoptions occurred at the meeting. Officials agreed to continue staff-level work, organize workshops, scope a science update, and return to councils with recommendations for next steps.

Ending City and tribal leaders said they consider the MOU and repeated staff engagement successful early steps and committed to returning with specific workshop dates, draft mitigation language and a scoping estimate for updated basin science.