With Oregon’s snow pack running well below normal, Sustainable Business Oregon reached out to Martha Pagel for her thoughts on who will suffer most if the rain and snow keep not falling.

Pagel is a shareholder specializing in water law with Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt and the recipient of the Oregon State Bar’s Environmental and Natural Resources Section Award. Prior to that, she was director of the Oregon Water Resources Department and Department of State Lands.

Pagel echoed sentiments of several others we’ve interviewed on the topic. It’s too early to rule out spring rains, and the region’s hydroelectric system is in good shape thanks to heavy snowfall in Canada, which feeds the Columbia River System.

See Also

• How Portlanders may get to enjoy early spring now, avoid drought later
• Record low snow pack could mean summer pain for fish and farmers (Map)

She notes that in recent years, late-season snow storms have helped pull the region through, though it would be unreasonable to expect to regain much ground.

Where does conflict arise in a low snow pack year?

Many of our stream systems depend on snow pack. That’s what feeds water for recreation, fish and irrigation. You’re going to have lower stream flows and that is going to create conflicts among those users.

What happens if there isn’t enough water to go around?

Oregon water law gives preference to first come, first served. The oldest priority base has the first right. In many cases, that would mean irrigation would be prioritized over in-stream flows because we’ve had irrigators using the system longer than we’ve protected in-stream flows. When there’s not enough water to go around, state regulators allocate it according to the rights. The system is painful but it works.

How does snow pack affect reservoirs?

The Willamette Valley has a system of storage reservoirs that are filled by melting snow in normal years and are heavily used for recreation, including boating and camping. But that water is used to augment in-stream flow for fish, for pollution abatement and some agriculture. On the west side, that impacts recreation as much as anything.

What should we do now?

Pray for rain and a lot more snow.

What should we do longer-term?

In the long-term if we’re dealing with the pattern of early season rains and late season snows, that doesn’t marry well with our storage system. We need to plan for more reservoir and in-ground water storage. That’s a big push right now.

As published Portland Business Journal, March, 11, 2015. Wendy Culverwell covers sustainable business, manufacturing and law.