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Salem declares emergency, moves to bolster water supply ahead of proposed Detroit Reservoir drawdown
Summary
City council adopted a resolution declaring an emergency to prepare for a planned deep drawdown at Detroit Reservoir, authorizing expedited work including new production wells, a second Keizer connection upgrade, and accelerated sand-filter maintenance at the city's water treatment plant using funds in the current CIP.
Salem City Council on Monday voted to declare an emergency tied to a proposed deep drawdown of Detroit Reservoir and authorized expedited procurement and preparatory work to protect the city's drinking-water treatment system.
The council passed an amended resolution extending the emergency through Dec. 31, 2026, after a staff presentation that said the planned lowering of lake levels could produce sustained turbidity far above levels the city's slow-sand filters are designed to treat.
City Engineer Alan Dannon told the council the Army Corps of Engineers' planned drawdown, required by a National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion, would lower lake levels roughly 50 feet below the current minimum winter pool and likely produce suspended-sediment levels that would rapidly plug the city's slow-sand filters.
—We began investigating as soon as we heard about the proposed…
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