Fish on the Run, Irrigation Done!

Whether you use a hose or have an underground watering system to water your yard and garden, we are asking our water customers to help us keep water in the Clackamas River by reducing or shutting-off outdoor watering for the fall fish runs!

You are KEY!

For the 5th year in a row, the CRWP are asking our customers to participate in our “Fish On the Run, Irrigation Done!” annual summer watering campaign. This annual campaign is designed to help the Clackamas River by reducing or shutting-off outdoor watering by the beginning of September for the fall Coho and Chinook salmon migration.

Balancing Water Supply and Demand

The balance between water supply and demand is crucial for ensuring the sustainable management of water resources for both people and fish. In our watershed the biggest factors that influence water supply is precipitation, or the amount of rainfall or snowfall that directly replenishes the Clackamas River. Although we had slightly above normal snowpack this past winter this is now gone and we haven’t had significant rainfall for months, and as a result river levels are very low.

As water providers we are required to ensure you have water from your tap 24/7/365 days a year, but we see our communities water use (demand) double and triple during the summer months dues to outdoor watering. Therefore, the less water you use, the less water we need to take out of the river.

We have information, technical assistance, conservation rebates, free landscape water audit and other water saving tools that will help you save water both inside and outside of our house, but you are the KEY to reducing how much water we take out of the river. Call or email us today to find out what you can do to reduce your water use and encourage your neighbors and community to join us in participating in our Fish on the Run, Irrigation Done! Campaign.

The chart below from PGE shows typical migration patterns and the months when salmon runs peak.

Find out more about what
Portland General Electric is
doing for salmon species in the
Clackamas River click here:

PGE Clackamas Project

To help encourage our customers to do their best in conserving their drinking water we have developed a water conservation meter which is evaluated weekly and notifies us of current river conditions and how much water we need to conserve. Currently our conservation meter is RED telling us the river levels are significantly low and we all need to “Reduce or turn off outdoor watering to keep water in the in the river for the Coho and Fall Chinook species.” Drought conditions are forecasted to continue over the next month, so until we get fall rains to help replenish the river, we all need to look at how to reduce our outdoor and indoor water use.

To see the current water meter conditions, go to the Home Page. Click Here

GREEN CONSERVATION ACTIONS

YELLOW CONSERVATION ACTIONS

RED CONSERVATION ACTIONS

Current Drought Numbers in Clackamas County

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Clackamas Oregon is currently Abnormally Dry (D0), and drought conditions are likely to develop (and continue) over the next month. STAY CONNECTED – Subscribe to NIDIS emails for the latest regional drought updates, webinars, and news. Or sign up to receive drought alerts when the U.S. Drought Monitor or U.S. Drought Outlook updates for your city/zip code by going here https://www.drought.gov/drought-alerts/signup

Did you Know?

314,100 people in Clackamas County are affected by drought. Increase of 20.5% since last month.
5% of people in Clackamas County are affected by drought. Increase of 14% since last month.
This past May was the 6^th driest May on record, over the past 129 years. Decrease of 3.032 inches of rain from normal.
January-May 2023 were the 21^st driest year to date over the past 129 years. Decrease of 8.4849 inches of rain from normal.

Check out the resources below to ﬁnd out what kind of changes you can make to your outdoor watering to ensure that you are using our drinking water in the most efﬁcient ways possible. The more water we can keep in the river the easier this journey will be for these threatened and endangered salmon species. Some of these resources are not availalbe to City of Lake Oswego or City of Tigard customers.