The Ashland Climate Collaborative’s Water Conservation action team is a source of information about Ashland’s water reservoir levels. We produce a monthly newsletter about how to conserve water in your own home. We also provide seasonal tips and links to City of Ashland incentives, rebates, and other resources.
View our most recent newsletters. To subscribe, email info@ashlandclimate.org or sign up.
Drought + H2O = Conservation
In our September 21 recorded webinar, state and local water conservation experts provide an up-to-the-minute update on Southern Oregon’s drought, our water supply, our outlook for the future, and how we can carefully manage our precious water supplies. Speakers: Larry O’Neill, State Climatologist of Oregon; Julie Smitherman, Customer Service & Water Efficiency Manager, and Cody Scoggins, Water Efficiency Coordinator, Medford Water Commission
Ashland’s Drinking Water
Talent Irrigation District
According to Drought.gov, as of January 2024, 29% of Jackson County is in a state of moderate drought, while 67% is abnormally dry.
Climate change is already affecting Ashland and the surrounding region, and its impacts are projected to become much more severe in the coming decades. According to Ashland’s 2017 Climate & Energy Action Plan, by the 2080’s Ashland will likely see:
- An 86% decrease in winter snowpack
- 90 more days of extreme heat annually
- 7-12 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature on the hottest day of the year
- More than 1″ of additional rainfall during heavy storms
- More frequent and severe droughts, heat waves, and wildfires
City Information Resources
and Incentive Programs
The City of Ashland provides excellent resources on water conservation strategies, effective irrigation techniques, and more at AshlandSavesWater.org and www.ashland.or.us/weather. The City also offers a number of incentive programs, free evaluations, and rebates to help residents do their part to conserve water, including:
- Irrigation system evaluation: a comprehensive assessment of the design, operation, and management of your sprinkler system.
- WaterSense Toilet Rebates to customers who replace existing toilets greater than 3.0 gallons per flush (gpf) with WaterSense-labeled toilets which are 1.28 gallons or less per flush.
- Smart Irrigation Controller Rebate. Rebate applies to the installation of WaterSense-certified smart irrigation controllers.
- Lawn Replacement Rebate. This applies to the removal of live, maintained, and irrigated lawns that are replaced with climate-appropriate, low-water use landscapes, and efficient irrigation systems.
- Free low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. Water-saving low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators are available to all City of Ashland electric and water customers. Call 541-488-5587 to schedule a time to pick them up.
The Collaborative Water Action Team
The Ashland Climate Collaborative formed a Water Action Team in March 2022 to provide a community-based push for water conservation, complementary to City efforts. The team’s initial focus is:
- Public education (of residents, businesses, landscapers, and policymakers) on such topics as:
- Where our water comes from
- Water conservation strategies
- Existing city incentives and programs
- The connection between water consumption and energy usage
- Conservation ethics
- Citizen “oversight” on municipal water issues. In the past, the city of Ashland had an Ad Hoc Water Committee. This committee is currently inactive. As long as there is no official committee, we need citizens knowledgeable about Ashland’s water and wastewater systems who, working together, can weigh in on water and wastewater system issues as needed.
- Policy Issues. There are many important policy issues of interest to Ashland residents, including the adequacy of regional water planning; water curtailment criteria; the water rate structure, and the equity of city water conservation incentive programs.
- Engagement with the Business Community. The Ashland Chamber of Commerce has historically been an important partner in water conservation efforts. We value the Chamber’s active involvement in water conservation programs.
For more information, contact us!
“Water conservation can have double benefits in the face of a changing climate: it can help the community be more prepared for drought, and also reduce stress to aquatic ecosystems and thereby enhance the resiliency of those ecosystems to a variety of climate and non-climate stressors. ”
— Ashland Climate & Energy Action Plan
Learn More About Reeder Reservoir —
Your Source for Clean, Fresh Drinking Water!
Reeder Reservoir supplies water to the city of Ashland, Oregon. It is relatively small as the maximum storage behind the dam is 860 acre-feet or 280 million gallons of raw water with the overflow weirs in place. Reeder Reservoir is fed from snow melt and watershed rain runoff from Mount Ashland. Typically, the reservoir fills to the top and reaches capacity in April, stays full and spills over the overflow weirs at the dam through the end of May, and then the water level behind the dam slowly starts to fall until the rains begin again usually sometime in October. Theoretical drawdown of the reservoir begins the first of June and goes to “empty” in March. The reservoir never reaches “empty” because of rains that usually start in October. The predicted 50% reservoir level is October 15th. Anytime after October 15th without rains and with the reservoir at or below 50% would cause concern for water supply. Source: http://wikimapia.org/275810/Reeder-Reservoir
Reeder Reservoir level as of September 15, 2022: 56.1%
Source: City of Ashland Reeder Reservoir Dashboard
Meet Our Water Conservation Team
Larry Cooper
Water Team Chair, Chamber Music Concerts Board Member
Larry Cooper was educated at U.C. Berkeley and UCLA. He moved to Northern California and worked in subsistence farming and forestry. Living off-the-grid for several years, Larry focused on the environment and ecology and learned about the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion.
Larry and his family moved to Ashland in 1982. After helping to create information and billing systems for Rogue Valley Sewer Services, he served as their IT manager for 10 years.
Larry is passionate about serving our community. He volunteered in the Ashland schools, joined the Ashland School District Budget Committee, and worked with Ashland High Arts Advocates for a decade. Larry served as a City of Ashland Conservation Commission member and supported community food and agriculture on the Ashland Food Co-op Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Chamber Music Concerts Board.
In his retirement, Larry has returned to his early days and is focused on water conservation and sustainability in Ashland.
Pat Acklin
Water Team Volunteer, Former City Councilor, Past President Southern Oregon Land Conservancy and Soroptimist International of Ashland
Pat Acklin is a Professor Emerita of Geography and Environmental Studies at Southern Oregon University where she taught geography and land use planning for 25 years.
A resident of the Rogue Valley since 1971, Pat’s prior experience includes working as a Land Use Planner and Sanitarian/Soil Scientist for what is now Jackson County Development Services. She also has acted as Citizen Involvement Coordinator for a regional transportation planning effort coordinated by the Rogue Valley Council of Governments.
Pat served for 14 years on the Ashland City Council and has served on a number of non-profit boards serving the residents of Ashland and southern Oregon. She is the Past President of the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy and Soroptimist International of Ashland.