Sustainable Silverton solicited City Council to prioritize a grant request to the Oregon Department of Water Resources to conduct an Aquifer Storage and Recovery feasibility study (ASR) for Silverton. ASR’s store treated water in the ground instead of building expensive above-ground storage. For example, Salem stores 95% of its treated water underground. Silverton is very fortunate to have first rights on the Abiqua River, but water storage is lacking and has been a long-time concern, especially in a drought year. The grant was approved on June 3, 2021 by the Water Resources Board. While the funding amount is relatively small compared to what was previously granted to Stayton, we anticipate our preliminary inquiry will be the basis for a more thorough future grant request. 

Have you considered signing up for a farm share [Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)] or are supporting our local farm community, either at the Farmer’s Market or at the many local farms in and around the Silverton area? We are blessed to have so many offerings!