OREGON
6A — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021
Report: Migrant
communities
distrust Oregon’s
drinking water
By DIANNE LUGO
Salem Statesman Journal
EO Media Group, File
Bonneville Power Administration offi cials said in a release Wednesday, June 2, they’ve “added a public safety power shutoff procedure” as
part of a wildfi re mitigation plan “to protect public safety, life and property.”
Bonneville Power Administration adds power
shutoff s to wildfi re plan for Pacifi c Northwest
By JEDIDIAH MAYNES
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA —
Energy offi cials could
intentionally shut off power
in some areas of the Pacifi c
Northwest this summer
to mitigate wildfi re risks,
regulators said, though
it would likely be a rare
event.
Bonneville Power
Administration offi -
cials said in a release
Wednesday, June 2, they’ve
“added a public safety
power shutoff procedure”
as part of a wildfi re mitiga-
tion plan “to protect public
safety, life and property.”
“This procedure is (a)
preventative measure,”
BPA Administrator John
Hairston said in the release.
“BPA is committed to
taking appropriate actions
to prevent, mitigate and
quickly recover from the
devastation wildfi res bring
to the people and commu-
nities we serve.”
Offi cials said a shutoff
should be rare and requires
the evaluation of sev-
eral conditions, including
weather and the status
of the electrical system,
to determine a high risk
of wildfi re ignition. BPA
offi cials said they would
require very dry condi-
tions, wind gusts above 60
mph and relative humidity
below 20% before a shutoff
is enacted.
“Taking a line out of
service ... is a measure of
last resort,” said Michelle
Cathcart, BPA vice presi-
dent of Transmission Oper-
ations, in the release.
BPA offi cials said taking
a line out of service does
not necessarily mean res-
idents and businesses will
lose power, although warn-
ings may came in “com-
pressed” times because of
how quickly wildfi re condi-
tions can change.
BPA administers and
regulates electrical power
generated by hydroelec-
tric dams in the Pacifi c
Northwest among other
federal energy facilities.
The energy is purchased
by utility companies in the
Northwest, such as Mil-
ton-Freewater’s City Light
& Power.
Rolling blackouts have
been used in places such as
California to help prevent
wildfi res.
Experts are predicting
a bad wildfi re season
for much of the West as
extreme drought conditions
have not let up.
2% of state’s COVID-19 cases found in the vaccinated
By AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian
SALEM — Offi cials
reported Thursday, June 3,
that about 2% of the people
diagnosed with COVID-19
in Oregon in May were
completely vaccinated —
meaning an overwhelming
98% of those sickened by
the coronavirus either were
unvaccinated or were only
partially vaccinated.
A total of 398 Ore-
gonians who’d received
their full recommended
courses of vaccines were
infected with the virus
from May 3 to May 31, the
Oregon Health Authority
announced in its monthly
report. Offi cials identi-
fi ed them as “breakthrough
cases.” Twelve of them
died, according to rough
numbers provided by the
state.
That compares to about
15,700 Oregonians who
were unvaccinated or par-
tially vaccinated when
they were infected in May.
Approximately 115 of them
died, according to rough
fi gures provided by the
state.
Offi cials say about 91%
of people who’ve died in
Oregon from COVID-19
weren’t vaccinated or
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Robert Fox, a graduate student at Eastern Oregon University, pre-
pares to receive his fi rst dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination
clinic Tuesday, May 4, 2021.
were partially vaccinated.
Although the vaccines
aren’t 100% eff ective even
in fully vaccinated individ-
uals, offi cials say they are
highly successful at pre-
venting infection and dra-
matically decreasing the
chances of hospitalization
or death.
In all, offi cials have iden-
tifi ed 1,009 breakthrough
cases and 20 deaths among
these Oregonians since the
state started tracking this
data in February.
The average age of a
person who was infected
after completing the recom-
mended doses of vaccine
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Joe Horst
ACDelcoTSS
was 51. The average age of
those who died was 75, offi -
cials said.
But Oregon offi cials cau-
tion that some of the people
counted as breakthrough
cases were counted as such
even though enough time
hadn’t passed for the vac-
cines to reach their max-
imum eff ectiveness.
People aren’t consid-
ered fully vaccinated
until at least 14 days have
passed since fi nishing their
one-dose of Johnson &
Johnson vaccine or two-
dose courses of Pfi zer and
Moderna vaccines. Yet the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has defi ned
a “breakthrough case” as
someone who tests positive
after 14 or more days have
passed since receiving the
Johnson & Johnson vaccine
or receiving their second
shots of Pfi zer or Moderna
vaccines.
That means a person
could have been exposed
and infected before the vac-
cines had time to provide
maximum protection.
SALEM — A report
from the Oregon Water
Futures Project reveals
widespread distrust in
drinking water among
communities of color
and a sharp disconnect
between communities
and policymakers when it
comes to water policy.
Oregon Water Futures
Project staff began inter-
viewing members of
native, Latinx, Black and
migrant communities
across the state in 2020,
attempting to understand
their water resource pri-
orities. Partnering with
Pineros y Campesinos
Unidos del Noroeste,
Euvalcree, Unite
Oregon, Verde, NAACP
Eugene-Springfi eld and
the Chinook Indian
Nation, 104 people across
eight counties were able
to participate.
According to the
report, climate change,
aging infrastructure and
a lack of investment in
clean water has stressed
the state’s water sys-
tems, disproportionately
risking the health, safety
and economy of Oregon’s
rural and low-income
communities of color.
“There are serious
information gaps about
water bills, water quality
and emergency pre-
paredness that must be
addressed,” said Alai
Reyes-Santos during a
media overview about the
report.
Reyes-Santos is one
of the lead authors of the
report and a professor at
the University of Oregon.
The University of
Oregon is one of the
institutions that com-
prises the Oregon Water
Futures Project, which
hopes to “elevate water
priorities” and “impact
how the future of water
in Oregon is imagined.”
Others involved in the
collaboration include the
Coalition of Communities
of Color, Oregon Envi-
ronmental Council and
Willamette Partnership.
Those interviewed
shared stories of inability
to aff ord their water bills,
buying bottled water
because they don’t trust
their tap water, rationing
bottles to aff ord the added
expense and boiling their
water fi rst or using other
culturally specifi c prac-
tices to purify water.
Water fi lters, they said,
did little to assuage their
fears about bad water
quality.
“The experience of
severe water scarcity in
Mexico and Guatemala
shapes water perspec-
tives today,” said Dolores
Martinez, community
engagement director at
Euvalcree, a nonprofi t led
by Latinos in Umatilla
and Malheur counties
that helped conduct 35
phone interviews.
The majority of the
participants immigrated
to the U.S. from Mexico
and Guatemala and many
of them did not have
potable running water in
their country of origin.
“They learned how to
source and clean water
before using it to drink
and cook. Some people
still use this practice at
home in Oregon because
of a lack of trust in
drinking water sources,”
Martinez said.
Umatilla and Malheur
counties were identifi ed
in a 2019 study among 16
counties in the Northwest
with the highest rate of
drinking water violations.
Those violations were
higher in low-income and
communities of color.
Communities relying
on well water are also
increasingly concerned
with poor regulation of
domestic wells. Across
diff erent regions, par-
ticipants thought there
was not enough routine
testing and they shared
experiences with pollu-
tion of well water.
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EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Official Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Submit all photos
online at:
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the final
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for first, second and third
place.
lagrandeobserver.com/photocontest