A federal judge last week granted a request from attorneys for the federal government to consolidate two lawsuits, one by the city of Salem and the other by Marion County, against the Army Corps of Engineers over its plans for a drawdown of water at Detroit Reservoir.  The request was granted by Judge Mustafa T. Kashubhai and filed on Tuesday, Aug. 11, in the Eugene U.S. District Court. Attorneys for the Army Corps argued that merging the cases was necessary to avoid duplicating efforts and the risk of conflicting legal rulings.  The city of Salem filed a lawsuit on July 8 in the Eugene U.S. District Court arguing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must complete a federally mandated report analyzing the impacts from prior drawdowns before proceeding with the Detroit drawdown. Marion County sued the Army Corps over the drawdown in May, arguing the agency is required to complete a report on past drawdown efforts and how those affected other communities. The county demanded the drawdown pause until the report is done. Both lawsuits argue that the Army Corps’ plan to lower water levels in the Detroit Reservoir to the lowest since the Detroit Dam was built 70 years ago will harm the ability to provide safe, clean drinking water to residents.  The drawdown, planned for the fall, aims to make it easier for salmon to move through the North Santiam River. City leaders said the planned drawdown will increase the turbidity – or the amount of sediment – in the North Santiam River and temporarily overwhelm the sand filtration system that handles the city’s drinking water.  The consolidation means the two cases will be considered by the same judge, Chief Judge Michael McShane, who is presiding over the Marion County case filed on May 13, 2026.  The city’s lawsuit also claimed that the Army Corps disregarded the city’s concerns over the drawdown’s likely impacts, missed a deadline mandated by Congress to submit its report analyzing the impacts of past drawdowns, and that the proposed drawdown would likely raise turbidity to levels that violate Oregon law. READ IT: City of Salem’s lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers A biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service in December 2024 found that the Corps needs to lower the lake to support steelhead and salmon fish populations in the North Santiam River, the primary source of Salem’s drinking water.  According to the city’s complaint, the Army Corps failed for years to facilitate fish passage and was ordered by a federal judge in 2021 to come up with a plan.   The Army Corps then proposed the deep drawdown of the reservoir as a solution.  The city said in its complaint that the increase in sediment as a result of the drawdown “will cause irreparable harm to the city of Salem’s drinking water treatment system, which relies on slow sand filtration and is designed to treat raw water with very low turbidity levels.”  The city said a stretch of high turbidity in the river would ultimately cause “complete failure and shutdown of the filtration system, resulting in the inability to produce any safe drinking water.” The city’s complaint said the Army Corps did not submit a report to Congress analyzing the impacts of increased turbidity in prior drawdowns and detailing lessons learned, which was due by Jan. 4, 2026.  The city argued that the drawdown should be postponed until its comments and concerns are considered.  The lawsuit also claimed that because turbidity levels in past drawdowns exceeded limits set by the state of Oregon, the upcoming drawdown is likely to violate state law. City leaders said it should be postponed until the Army Corps proposes a drawdown that would yield lower turbidity levels.  In its complaint, the city asked a federal judge to halt the drawdown until the Army Corps complies with the laws “to ensure the protection of the city of Salem’s water supply and consequently the health, safety and welfare of the community depending on it.”  The lawsuit also demanded the federal government invest in a solution to help facilitate young salmon migration and to establish a threshold that would stop or pause the drawdown should sediment reach levels capable of overwhelming the city’s filtration system.  PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Attorneys for U.S. government request city, county lawsuits against Army Corps be consolidated  Salem sues U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over planned Detroit Reservoir drawdown Army Corps shortens timeline expected for Detroit Lake drawdown City of Salem asks Army Corps to consider delaying Detroit Lake drawdown Salem city councilors will get updated on fall 2026 drawdown of Detroit Reservoir Army Corps shortens timeline expected for Detroit Lake drawdown The post Judge grants government’s request to merge Marion, Salem water lawsuits  appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less