Willamette River Basin Study stakeholders, including AOC, met March 1st to catch up on progress. The US Army Corps of Engineers is examining whether operational changes in storage allocation from valley project reservoirs would better serve present and future needs in the basin. The next milestone is a tentatively selected plan by July 2017. The AOC Water Policy Committee is fully engaged and will keep AOC informed.
AOC submitted testimony to the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee in favor of House Bill 3051, which would expand permissible uses of the Water Measurement Cost Share Program Revolving Fund, established in 2001. The fund can pay up to 75 percent of the cost of installing a water use measuring device. The bill expands use of the fund to devices at a point of diversion and to measure ground water. The latter is particularly important given the dearth of information on the groundwater resource in Oregon.
Contributed by: Gil Riddell | AOC Policy Director