Water, farms and power in northeastern Oregon, from the pages of Oregon Water Online and the coalition’s website
Guides · written in 2026
The coalition wrote for people who already knew what a water right, a critical groundwater area or a biological opinion was. These guides fill in that background for everyone else. Each one links back to the restored pages and news reports it draws on, and lists its sources.
Eastern Oregon communities · Irrigation & farms
The Boardman and Hermiston economy: potatoes, onions, watermelons, the Port of Morrow, Amazon data centers, and the water questions that tie them together.
Eastern Oregon communities · Water rights & law
How the Oregon Water Coalition's scholarship worked and the study paths it pointed to: BMCC irrigation tech, OSU water programs, UO Law and OSAC applications.
Eastern Oregon communities · Irrigation & farms
What irrigation districts, growers and farm suppliers in eastern Oregon need online: meeting notices, accessibility deadlines, local search and seasonal ads.
Water rights & law · Salmon & rivers
HB 3111 is Oregon's irrigation district remapping law, not a Columbia River bill. Here is what it did, and the verified Columbia River water-supply laws.
Energy & hydropower · Salmon & rivers
A plain guide to BPA and the Federal Columbia River Power System: the big dams, hydro's share of Oregon power, wind balancing, data center load and rates.
Eastern Oregon communities · Irrigation & farms
How the Umatilla Project, McKay and Cold Springs reservoirs, the 1988 water exchange and Columbia pumping shaped irrigation around Hermiston and Stanfield.
Irrigation & farms · Energy & hydropower
An irrigator's road trip through the Dominican Republic: big dams, rice in the Cibao, organic bananas in the northwest and farmer-run canal boards.
Water rights & law · Irrigation & farms
How Oregon water rights work: prior appropriation, OWRD permits and certificates, transfers, the five-year forfeiture rule, groundwater and basin programs.
Water rights & law · Irrigation & farms
Water rights records, well logs, stream gauges and agency reports for Oregon water research, with APA examples for students, reporters and district staff.
Salmon & rivers · Energy & hydropower
The four lower Snake River dams, ESA-listed salmon, fish passage, hatcheries, predation by terns and sea lions, and the biological opinions and court fights.
Snowpack, climate & forecasts
How NRCS SNOTEL snowpack data and water supply forecasts work, how to read exceedance probabilities, and how Oregon drought declarations are made.
Irrigation & farms · Eastern Oregon communities
A factual guide to the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area: the 1990 DEQ designation, nitrate sources, well results and the state plan.
Snowpack, climate & forecasts · Water rights & law
Why the Great Salt Lake hit a record low in 2022, what Utah is doing about it, and the lessons for Oregon's saline lakes, snowpack, birds and water law.
