The Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District will host a live online presentation and listening session regarding drinking water quality in the Molalla River watershed on Wednesday, May 13, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This public meeting will be presented via Zoom web conference.
Members of the public are encouraged to participate and will be invited to provide feedback on local drinking water quality concerns. The presentation will also be recorded for those who are unable to “attend,” and you can provide input now on the Molalla River Drinking Water Project’s website.
These meetings had been scheduled to happen in person in Canby and Molalla in late March, but were canceled due to concerns over the novel coronavirus and Covid-19.
“We have decided to switch to gathering feedback from the public in an online capacity while the stay at home requirements are still in place,” said Jason Faucera, of Clackamas SWCD. “We’ll still likely hold in-person meetings at some point, but in order to stay on schedule with our work we will need to keep moving forward.”
The district was awarded a National Water Quality Initiative grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to assess factors affecting drinking water source quality in the Canby area, and to better understand issues affecting drinking water quality for the approximately 26,000 people whose drinking water is drawn directly from the Molalla River.
While the project focuses on water entering municipal intakes in the cities of Canby, Molalla and Colton, it assesses factors across the entire Molalla River watershed that have potential to impact drinking water source quality.
Clackamas SWCD has hired a consultant to conduct the bulk of the research and technical work regarding the Molalla River assessment: John Runyon, of Cascade Environmental Group, and his scientific team are working closely with local, state, and regional agencies to gain understanding of the issues that affect local drinking water quality.
They are also pairing current and historic technical information with input from the public, land managers, agencies, and community organizations to tell the story of drinking water source quality in the Molalla watershed.
The final report will describe where investment of resources will bring the biggest return for drinking water source quality protection and improvement.
For more information on the Molalla River Drinking Water Project, visit molallariverdrinkingwater.com. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Jason Faucera at jfaucera@conservationdistrict.org or by phone at 503-210-6013.
Details for the live presentation:
Molalla Drinking Water Study — Public Web Video Meeting, May 13th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94736578167
Meeting ID: 947 3657 8167
Audio by Phone: +1 253 215 8782