Oregon must change how it deals with water. That’s been the message of Oregon legislators in the state’s water caucus. Progress has been an unsteady flow.

Two members of the caucus, Reps. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, and Mark Owens, R-Crane, told a legislative committee Wednesday some of their legislative plans for the 2025 session.

“We are going to have to stop what we have done for the last 100 years,” Owens said. “The last 100 years or more we have allocated and regulated water. We haven’t figured out how to manage water. We have to change the Water Resources Department. We have got to change the thought processes in this building, how we manage a scarce resource with our communities in conjunction with the state.”

They presented a long list of concepts. To be clear, they did not suggest what some water reformers have: Undo Oregon’s water rights and reallocate. Helm and Owens did not make mention of anything as dramatic as that. Instead, they spoke about safe and reliable drinking water, better water sharing and, of course, investments in water infrastructure.

They made specific mention of a few specific topics for legislation.

If a person is going to get their electricity cut off, there is a safety net in place to protect Oregonians from losing access to power. The same cannot be said for access to water for all users. They want that to change. They did not go into detail.

The last statewide groundwater analysis found that 52% of the state does not have enough information to know if it has water available or not. Instream flows haven’t been updated in some areas in years. Oregon needs to ensure it has the data to make good decisions by basin. They want to continue pushing ahead on developing more information for a state water data portal.

One change that may be somewhat controversial: They want the Oregon Water Resources Department to have the authority to require entities that have a water right to measure what they use and report. It’s not clear what the costs would be or who would bear them.

They also want more protections in place to protect water rights holders who find ways to conserve. Rights holders who conserve water should not fear that their future rights will be reduced because they aren’t currently using their full amount.

They are going to propose an idea that has been around for years — water banks, enabling water users even from different water districts and basins to be able to share water. There’s a potential for economic and ecological benefits. They stressed that water rights holders would not be forced to participate. It would be voluntary.

Many more areas will require attention — invasive species, equitable access, doing a better job of seeking federal funding. You can find a more complete list of their concepts here: tinyurl.com/ORWaterpreview.

Tell your legislators what you think about what should be on the Legislature’s agenda for water.