In a state that's known for abundant water - at least the kind that falls from the sky - a number of Oregon residents nevertheless worry about whether the state has enough water to meet future needs.

That pessimistic outlook was one of the findings of a series of water "roundtables" organized around the state by Oregon State University's Institute for Water and Watersheds.

But there was good news to emerge from the five sessions, according to Michael Campana, director of the institute: Many of the participants in the sessions obviously had thought deeply about water issues, and were focused on searching for common solutions.

"People were very interested in seeking those local and regional solutions," Campana said.

The institute recently released a summary of the roundtable discussions, held last year in five locations: Salem, Bend, Newport, Ontario and Medford. More than 300 people attended the sessions, although Campana noted that some people attended more than one session.

Campana said the idea for the roundtables came from Oregon state Rep. Jackie Dingfelder, D-Portland, who approached the institute about a year ago. The institute went to work raising the estimated $20,000 required for the effort, and tried to schedule the five sessions with the widest possible geographical distribution.

"We were very careful to tell people the purpose was not to create a water plan," Campana said. "We were listening to what they were saying. The report just was what we heard."

And one of the overwhelming sentiments was that Oregon would not have adequate water to support its needs by 2028. In all, some 80 percent of the participants believed that, Campana said, although he notes that the attendees at the forum were self-selected, and that the roundtables likely tended to attract people concerned about the issue.

Despite that pessimism, Campana said he was consistently impressed by how many of the participants were searching for solutions - and were emphasizing the importance of crafting local and regional answers, instead of a one-size-fits approach mandated by the state or federal government.

"I came away more optimistic about water resources in Oregon than when I went into this," he said.

And he was impressed by how civil most of the discussions were, although there were flareups from time to time: "You can't talk about water and not have people fuss."

Campana said institute staff members already have done a couple of presentations about the roundtable results to state government officials, and noted that Dingfelder wanted the sessions wrapped up by the end of 2008 so that legislators could analyze them before the 2009 session began.

"What happens after this is up to whoever wants to do something," he said.

To learn more

The full report from the Oregon State University Institute for Water and Watersheds is available at this Web site: http://water.oregonstate.edu/roundtables/docs.htm