Wake up seven days a week with the Cascades Reader. Get local news, event information, podcasts, discounts and more. Sign up now!
A 90-foot crane pulled a 20,000-pound generating unit at the Newport Avenue Dam on Mirror Pond last week. Data from the Energy Infrastructure Council show power output at the dam reached its lowest point in decades in 2020, producing just 315 megawatt hours compared to an average of 2,390 MWh over the past 20 years. “The […]
Pacific Power announced Monday it’s planning to repair a small leak in the Newport Avenue Dam some time in early November. On Oct. 10, a plant operator discovered more water than normal passing through an outlet that was once used to regulate river flow, according to a press release from Pacific Power. The power company, […]
Like the Deschutes River itself, it would appear that nothing to do with the decision about whether to keep the Newport Avenue Dam—the structure that creates Mirror Pond—is ever straightforward. For the past several years, it has been a tug-of-war with sentimental emotions to keep the iconic pond, and environmental considerations to blow the dam […]
Last Wednesday Pacific Power gave city and park district officials an exclusive tour of the beleaguered Newport Avenue Dam. A few media representatives were also allowed to tag along, but with a few caveats. First, we signed our lives away with a waiver and were required to wear steel-toed boots during the tour. Before entering […]
One by one, latecomers walked to the far side of the well-lit Bend Park and Recreation District community room to retrieve a seat from the stack of black chairs on the opposite wall. The mood was solemn but anticipatory for the Dec. 2 Mirror Pond Ad Hoc work group meeting. It was a mixed bag […]
At last Wednesday’s city council meeting, Mayor Jim Clinton held up a colorful painting of what could be. The rendering (pictured above) showed both a river and a pond—but no Newport Avenue dam, the 103-year-old, leaking structure that creates Mirror Pond. Presented to murmuring approvals and head nods at the city council meeting, this new […]
After dancing around the issue for nearly two hours—and for years before Monday evening’s meeting inside the Bend Park & Recreation District office building—the Mirror Pond ad hoc committee casually called a vote: Should we keep Mirror Pond or not? Suddenly, at least a few of the roughly 50 community members in attendance sat up […]
For the past several years, public debate has seesawed between keeping the Newport Avenue Dam and, with it, Bend's iconic Mirror Pond, or removing the structure and letting the Deschutes River run free. The city and park district have formed committees, conducted surveys, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as countless hours […]
Early last week, in order to get a good look at the leaking Newport Avenue Dam, Pacific Power, the utility company that owns the structure, drew down the already-low water levels of Mirror Pond (or, do we now call the water adjacent to Drake Park the Deschutes River?). The reason for lowering water levels even […]
Pacific Power engineers at work. So far, after one full day of inspections, Pacific Power engineers are reporting what we already knew about the leaking, 103-year-old Newport Avenue dam. “It’s inline with our expectations, which is, it’s old,” said Pacific Power spokesperson Bob Gravely while standing on the Newport Avenue Bridge overlooking the dam. Gravely, […]
Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.
Sending to:
