We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with the City of Spokane dedicated to keeping our river trash-free. We have long collaborated with the City—rafting out trash they collect and utilizing their support to dispose of waste from City-owned waterfronts—and this new agreement formalizes that relationship with financial backing for cleanup efforts within city limits. This funding ensures that our work removing debris from the banks and bottom of the Spokane River will continue for years to come, resulting in a safer, more beautiful river for our entire community.

As we have been sharing throughout the spring, water supply and river flows are already low across the Spokane River basin. Current conditions look similar to this time last year, before we saw a section of the river dry up completely. Many people have asked whether we are headed for another dry river this summer. The answer is that we do not know, but it is possible. We take a look at some of the driving conditions, and how they compare to previous years.

Last week, Avista announced that it is working with a new large-load customer expected to require an initial electric demand of 125 megawatts, with projected demand increasing to 500 megawatts by 2032. According to Avista, the customer could ultimately consume more than half of the electricity currently used by all residential and business customers in Spokane County. While the customer has not been publicly identified, projects of this magnitude are commonly associated with large-scale computing infrastructure, including data centers and artificial intelligence operations.

For Spokane Riverkeeper, this announcement raises a central question about how this level of industrial demand would interact with the Spokane River system and the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, which together form the foundation of the region’s water and energy system