Water Restoration Certificate

ClimeCo is proud to partner with Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offer Water Restoration Certificates®

Every Water Restoration Certificate® (WRC) you buy does more than just support water restoration. Each WRC purchase supports Bonneville Environmental Foundation‘s mission to restore freshwater ecosystems, prepare the next generation for clean energy jobs, and catalyze a clean energy future. WRCs protect waterways to ensure environmental and social benefits by restoring flows, improving efficiency, and revitalizing natural systems.

Restoring the Upper Deschutes Means Finding Balance in the Basin

The Deschutes River starts high in the Cascade Mountains at Little Lava Lake. It flows through two reservoirs, Crane Prairie and Wickiup, on its way to the City of Bend. Irrigation water storage in and release from these two reservoirs cause low winter and high summer streamflows.

The altered streamflow pattern erodes river banks and stresses fisheries and riparian ecosystems. Soil eroded from the banks of the upper Deschutes River deposits downstream in Bend, causing sedimentation in Mirror Pond.

To address this issue, basin partners are looking into new ways to meet water needs for rivers, agriculture, and communities over the next 50 years. While much progress has been made in restoring flows in the basin, improving conditions in the Upper Deschutes will require a greater effort. A $1.5 million Basin Study, concluded in 2018, is providing needed information on restoration options. The Basin Study Work Group involves all of the diverse, and often conflicting, water interests in the Deschutes Basin voluntarily working toward a modern water management plan.

Through two decades of cooperative efforts, partners working on the Middle Deschutes have restored nearly 135 cubic feet per second of summer streamflow—up from just 2% of natural flow—marking significant progress toward revitalizing the river’s ecosystem and recreational potential, with a goal of reaching 250 cubic feet per second through continued water conservation, leasing, and purchases.

In the western US, water rights can be lost if water isn’t used, a “use it or lose it” policy that often encourages wasteful practices as landowners try to retain their rights, leading to dried-up streams and negative impacts on fish, wildlife, and recreation. BEF Water Restoration Certificates® (WRCs) help address this problem by allowing water rights holders, in certain jurisdictions, to use their rights for ecological purposes—restoring water to rivers and streams—without losing those rights, often through leased or transferred water allocations that protect environmental flows and help depleted waterways recover.