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Dean Sawyer: Averting Disaster and Guaranteeing Newport’s Future
Newport's upper dam.
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Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Dean Sawyer: I served with the Newport Police Department for 30 years in both command and supervision positions. After I retired, I saw some issues in the city that concerned me as a resident and public servant, and 10 years ago, I decided to run for city council. I have been on the council ever since, and a year ago I was elected mayor. I ran for mayor because I wanted to improve our downtown area and push forward the dam issue.
6 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about Newport, Oregon. Dean Sawyer: Newport is a port city on the central Oregon coast with a population of 10,000. It is the county seat and a regional hub. We also have several large employers here, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast headquarters, Rogue Ales and Spirits, Oregon State University’s Marine Science Center, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. In addition to our residential population, nearly 5,000 people commute to Newport for work each day. Newport has a significant number of second homes, and the city receives about 2.5 million tourists a year; tourism is our biggest industry. Municipal Water Leader: What are your water sources? Dean Sawyer: We have two reservoirs, built in 1951 and 1968. The Oregon coast is an active seismic area, and we’ve been told by our engineers that even a 3.5-magnitude earthquake would cause the dams to fail. About a year ago, we were notified by the state that the dams have an advanced seepage issue, which we are now actively monitoring. Advanced seepage increases the risk to the community. The two reservoirs provide water to the local community and to the industries here. We have one of the largest fishing fleets on the Oregon/Washington coast,
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT AND THE NEWPORT NEWS TIMES.
ewport, Oregon, is a thriving city of 10,000 on the Oregon coast that is popular with tourists and home to many businesses and organizations. However, the city faces an existential threat. Its two aging dams would not survive a moderately sized earthquake and suffer from seepage issues. A dam breach would cause loss of life and would erase at a stroke the city’s ability to supply basic water service to its residents and business community. Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer is leading the effort to raise awareness of this issue across Oregon and the entire nation. He and his team are leading a publicity campaign, holding tours of the dam, and seeking funding from the State of Oregon and from Congress and federal agencies. In this interview, he tells Municipal Water Leader about his efforts and his recent trip to Washington, DC.
