Geology As Destiny: Cold Waters Run Deep in Western Oregon. Science Findings, Issue Forty-Nine, December 2002

摘要

The summer of 2001 brought the second-worst drought on record in Oregon, resulting in historically low streamflows and reservoir levels, stressed aquatic ecosystems, and even dramatic confrontations between irrigators and federal resource agencies in the Klamath basin. These events underscore the critical and growing importance of water availability and allocation in the Pacific Northwest. Yet at the scale of large river basins, such as the Willamette River in western Oregon, we have an imperfect picture of how much water of what quality is available where and when. Having accurate information on the sources of water within a watershed, and how those sources vary through time in response to both climatic fluctuations and human activities, is vital to evaluating effects of forest land use, dams, diversions, agricultural and municipal uses, and restoring instream flows.