County Sues U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Over Plan To Drain Detroit Lake (Photo) - 05/13/26
SALEM, OR — Today, the Marion County Board of Commissioners formally announced that the county has filed a lawsuit asking the United States District Court to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pause efforts to drain Detroit Lake until the Army Corps completes the turbidity report required by federal law and allows informed public comments. Congress required the Army Corps to evaluate lessons learned from turbidity problems caused by a similar draining of nearby Green Peter Lake, but the Army Corps is over four months past the legal deadline. The announcement that the lawsuit was filed today was made during a regularly scheduled Board Session.
The Army Corps has proposed draining Detroit Lake to such a low level that it risks having insufficient water for municipal, agricultural, recreational, and environmental uses. And, available water will have higher turbidity, harming water quality and costing downstream cities like Stayton and Salem millions of dollars in infrastructure repairs/upgrades. In December 2025 and January 2026, Marion County submitted multiple formal letters to the Army Corps voicing strong concerns and requesting modifications to address the many foreseeable risks.
“The damage to downstream water systems due to the Army Corps’ irresponsible draining of Green Peter Lake was not theoretical” said Commissioner Colm Willis, Chair. “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. The City of Salem has already declared an emergency and smaller communities like Stayton are scrambling to try to prevent similar damage to their water systems. The Corps should follow the law and revise its plan to ensure our downstream communities are protected.”
“Our residents depend on clean, reliable drinking water,” said Commissioner Kevin Cameron. “The Army Corps should complete the turbidity analysis required by law before taking on any risks that could harm our community’s drinking water.”
Beyond the risks to drinking water, a deep draining of Green Peter Lake in 2023 caused the loss of more than one million kokanee salmon, many killed by barotrauma. The Corps’ own biologists confirmed the cause. The current proposal by the Army Corps acknowledged that draining Detroit Lake could harm fish populations, but it did not fully analyze how a largescale fish kill would affect the broader ecosystem.
With Santiam Canyon communities still recovering from the 2020 Labor Day wildfires, recreation at Detroit Lake remains essential to their economic stability. Draining the lake during the fall and winter months stands to significantly disrupt recreation access, harm local businesses, and compound the long-term impacts many already face after the fires.
“Any changes to Detroit Lake’s water level must be grounded in data-backed science with meaningful protections in place for our downstream communities,” said Commissioner Danielle Bethell. “This lawsuit seeks to address the Army Corps’ lack of compliance with federal law and protect our local residents from potentially catastrophic results. We will continue working to ensure that decisions made at the federal level align with the needs of local communities, focusing on drinking water and our canyon recovery.”