BEND, OR -- Pacific Power lowered the water level of the Deschutes River by about four feet, over the weekend, to allow for the repair of the dam at Mirror Pond. Tom Gaunt is with PacifiCorp, which owns the hydro facility and dam near downtown Bend. He tells KBND News, "Daily, our folks are going around and checking everything out. And, the person in charge of doing that Thursday morning said ‘that’s more water coming out of the bottom, there, then there ought to be.’"
He says it doesn’t pose a public safety issue. "Part of it is, it’s a leak; we want to fix it. It’s a good time of year to fix it, really: It’s not an extremely high water time, there’s not yet any ice anywhere. All those things argue in favor of doing things quickly, right now." He notes, " All dams leak to some minor degree. It’s just whether that’s something that’s easily fixed or should be fixed soon. And, all those elements came together to say ‘let’s do this as soon as we can.’"
The water level may remain noticeably low for up to two weeks.
