Blue River Water District Update

Blue River Water District Update

First, a reminder that residents do not need to take any action to cancel their water services at this point. No bills will be issued at this time, and you will be notified in advance before this changes.

Over the past ten days since the Holiday Farm Fire fire devastated the McKenzie River community, our Water Superintendent Al Artero has been working tirelessly to gain access to equipment such as pumps, assess damage, and make repairs to damaged infrastructure. The Treasurer of the Blue River H2O District, Tony Casad, is handling operational management on the ground including insurance claims, and the board has had an emergency meeting to determine next steps.

The structure around our primary well house was burnt, yet pump motors such as this one tend to be sturdy machines, so we need to test it out to see whether it actually needs repairing or replacing. In order to do this, we need to first clear out the area so we can safely access the machine.

The concrete structure around the secondary well house and generator seems to have resisted the fire, but a large tree fell across it and the generator cover case, which has been heavily damaged. So again, it is a matter of clearing access as removing such a large tree requires some specialist equipment.

If the well has not been compromised, the immediate plan it to get power to one of the pumps and close the distribution system down to the line running directly past the school’s hydrants, and to the small water tower. This could be a great asset to the fire crews that are trying to protect the surviving structures, while also giving the ability to assess damage to the lines. This is what we are currently working towards, but in order to do this, we need to first contract a 30 yard dumpster to place at the Blue River well pump site so we can remove debris and access the pumps and repair the wells.

We are making good progress, collaborating and coordinating with

Rainbow Water District, Lane Electric and their contractors, OAWU (Oregon Association of Water Utilities), and ORWARN (Oregon Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network), to name but a few.

We appreciate your patience, and want to assure you that although the members of the water board have also been personally affected by these events, we are all working as hard as we can to get water flowing to Blue River as soon as possible.

When there is any significant progress or issues to report, we will post to the McKenzie Recovery Website and CDC Facebook page, so please be sure to monitor those on a regular basis for the latest information.  You can also follow

@CdcKenzie on Twitter or email alice@mckenzierecovery.org with any questions.