C. Oregon nonprofits step up, supply water to Warm Springs residents after fire, system outage

Donations being sought, collected around region

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- After an underground electrical fire on Friday that took out most of the water systems in Warm Springs, several Central Oregon organizations are banding together, collecting supplies and asking for donations.

“Donate jugs of water or donate funding so that we can get large jugs and or trucks of water up there," Helpers Executive Director Jon Riggs said Monday.

Donations can also include Safeway gift cards.

Riggs said right now, the local nonprofit is raising money. They’re also coordinating with water companies to get a bigger water source to Warm Springs.

“So there’s five main water towers, and three of those are dry, and the other two are obviously going to be dry soon," Riggs said.

The president of the Central Oregon Peacekeepers, Luke Richter, says the community has been generous. 

"We're in the United States of America, and there’s communities that just can’t have access to reliable clean water at the moment, which makes absolutely no sense," Richter said.

Riggs noted that 40 people already have made donations.

Warm Springs issued an emergency notice for water conservation after the fire erupted at their water treatment plant Friday. There's no firm timeline yet for when it'll be fixed, but Pacific Power crews were on scene Friday to get moving on the efforts.

People living in the Agency Area, Upper Dry Creek, Sunnyside, Wolfe Point & the Kah-Nee-Ta Hamlets are advised to limit water use.

To make things simple, the Helpers set up donation drop-offs for multi-gallon jugs and Safeway gift cards at the following locations:

Bend - 2198 NE Shepard Road (porch drop-off is preferred)
Redmond - 939 NW Fir (front porch drop-off is preferred)
Madras - Madras Garden Depot, 165 N. Highway 26 (Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.)

You can also send Venmo payments to @helpers-nonprofit-1

"So pretty much what we’ll do it in a loop, and we’ll swing by and just grab everything and just take it up to Warm Springs," Riggs said.

With the scarcity of such a vital source, the Helpers plan to make frequent water runs.

"Our indigenous neighbors need help," Richter said. "Whatever we can do for each other, we try and help each other."