Marion County filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court seeking to halt the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ planned draining of Detroit Lake until the federal agency completes a congressionally mandated turbidity report and allows public comment.
The Board of Commissioners announced the lawsuit filing during today’s regularly scheduled board session, more than four months after the Army Corps missed its legal deadline to publish the required environmental analysis.
Congress directed the Army Corps to publish a turbidity report by January 4, 2026, requiring the agency to evaluate lessons learned from turbidity problems at nearby Green Peter Lake. That deadline has passed with no report issued.
The lawsuit challenges the Corps’ plan to drain Detroit Lake to what would be the lowest levels in the reservoir’s history. The proposed drawdown would lower the lake 55 feet below normal winter levels, implemented gradually over multiple years to help threatened Chinook salmon move downstream under Endangered Species Act requirements.
Municipal water systems serving cities from Salem to Stayton have warned that increased turbidity could cause large-scale damage to treatment infrastructure. The North Santiam River, which flows from Detroit Lake, supplies drinking water to more than 200,000 residents across Marion County.
Steve Elzinga, Marion County counsel, said the county is asking the court to stop the drawdown until the federal agency completes the analysis required under the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024.
“This morning, Marion County filed a lawsuit asking the United States District Court to order the Army Corps to pause plans to drain Detroit Lake until the Army Corps completes the turbidity report required by federal law and allows informed public comments,” Elzinga said.
County officials point to the 2023 Green Peter Lake drawdown as evidence of the potential consequences. That operation produced excessively muddy water that strained downstream water systems and decimated the lake’s kokanee salmon population.
“The damage to downstream water systems due to the Army Corps’ irresponsible draining of Green Peter Lake was not theoretical,” Commissioner Colm Willis said in today’s announcement. “It was real, it was catastrophic, and it caused millions of dollars in damages to downstream water systems in the cities of Lebanon and Sweet Home.”
Commissioner Danielle Bethell said county officials tried to work with the Army Corps before turning to the courts, including during a trip to Washington, D.C., where she met with Corps leadership.
“It’s frustrating to me that we have to go to a court to have an outcome because we have seen the result literally not more than 50 miles from my house of another drawdown that impacted not just multiple small communities, but hundreds of households and hundreds of farms,” Bethell said.
The City of Salem has declared a water emergency, while Stayton officials are implementing protective measures for their vulnerable water treatment systems.
Before filing suit, Marion County submitted formal letters to the Army Corps on December 16, 2025, and January 6, 2026, requesting modifications to address water quality risks. The county’s legal counsel warned in a January 13 letter that repair and replacement costs for local governments could total millions of dollars, and that a deep drawdown anytime in 2026 or 2027 would be catastrophic.
Willis said the county had to act because downstream communities face real drinking water risks.
“There’s real danger to drinking water in Salem,” Willis said. “There’s real danger to drinking water in Stayton, in Mill City. And so we had to act.”
An Army Corps spokesperson previously stated the agency is waiting on federal funding to complete the turbidity report.
The lawsuit asks the court to order the Army Corps to pause all draining efforts until the required turbidity report is completed and the public comment period is properly conducted.
