Oregon Public Broadcasting

While the temperatures have peaked in many parts of Western Oregon, the extended hot spell has taken its toll on infrastructure. April Baer reports.

Phone service has been sporadic at Portland Community College, due to heat-related problems.  

The Eugene Water and Energy Board spent Wednesday afternoon dealing with a transformer so overheated, its paint was blistering off.

Work crews narrowly avoided a power outage that would have affected the Lane County Jail, hospital facilities, and other downtown hubs.

In Salem, the city is still under a stage 2 water alert. Mike Gotterba with the city manager's office says that means a request that residents hold off on cosmetic use, like watering their lawns.

Mike Gotterba:  "Certainly we do want people to take care of the vegetable gardens and decorative plants, but any discretionary uses they have, we'd like them to help us out.

For its part, the city has let decorative fountains run dry. Fire trucks and police cars are going unwashed.

Gotterba says several weather-related factors led to the shortage, including an algae bloom in the North Santiam River, and some problems at the Big Cliff Dam.