He finds the river a cool workplace.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Karl Morgenstern is happiest in his element - the McKenzie River.

To get there, Morgenstern typically is behind the wheel of a Dodge Ram pickup truck pulling a 24-foot-long "Stormchaser" mobile lab - an office-on-wheels that helps him monitor the pH, temperature, turbidity and other qualities of the many water samples he takes from the river.

Morgenstern, 43, is the Eugene Water & Electric Board's drinking water source protection coordinator, a position created in 2001 at the urging of a citizens' advisory committee. It's an important job, considering that the McKenzie is the sole source of drinking water for EWEB's 200,000-plus customers.

Morgenstern has set up a network of monitoring stations designed to detect any deterioration in the quality of the lower McKenzie above EWEB's filtration plant at Hayden Bridge. Most of the monitoring stations are actually on McKenzie tributaries, such as Cedar Creek, which can offer the first hints of any increase in bacteria, metals, nitrates or other contaminants.

The water quality in the McKenzie and its tributaries is remarkably good - but that's no reason to be lackadaisical, Morgenstern says.

"At some point there is a tipping point and it will show up in the river," he says of contaminants. "The question is, are we close or far away from that tipping point?"

Morgenstern can be found out in the field in any weather - but especially during major storms, which is when about 80 percent of pollutants enter a river. Development, runoff and farm and forest activities can all contribute to making a river less clean.

EWEB colleagues praise Morgenstern not just for his diligence in monitoring the river but for his initiatives to protect or improve its pristine quality.

For starters, Morgenstern developed a first-of-its-kind emergency response plan for the entire McKenzie watershed, including a sophisticated mapping and computer-based notification and response system. The plan is intended to help multiple agencies respond quickly to a hazardous materials spill or other emergency.

More recently, Morgenstern helped lead a campaign inviting farmers in the McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette watersheds to dispose of obsolete pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals. More than 50 farmers took part last fall in an initial "roundup" that netted 17,400 pounds of pesticides, 5,200 pounds of fertilizer and 1,550 gallons of waste oil, solvents, paints and other liquids.

Morgenstern is now looking to identify and minimize "nonpoint" sources of potential contamination in the watershed, such as rural residents' septic tanks and the millions of pounds of pesticides applied aerially on forestland.

Morgenstern's affection for the outdoors developed at an early age.

The youngest of four sons growing up near the mountains in New Mexico, he and his siblings could regularly be found canoeing, backpacking and snow skiing.

When he enrolled at the University of Kansas, unsure of a major, one of his brothers suggested he look into geography and natural resources. He did and liked what he discovered.

"I never thought of it as something you could do for a job," he says. "It was like, `Wow, you mean I can marry the two things I love, the outdoors and being in the field, and get paid for it?' '

After college, Morgenstern went to work for an environmental consulting firm in Kansas City, Mo., where he helped investigate the environmental effects after the small Missouri town of Times Beach was evacuated in the mid-1980s because of exposure to dioxin.

When the consulting firm landed a contract with the Environmental Protection Agency's Seattle office, Morgenstern headed west.

Then, in 1992, he moved south to Portland to take a job with Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality, helping to investigate and clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites.

He worked with DEQ until 2001, when his "dream job" at EWEB opened up.

"I was pretty burned out on cleanups," he says. "This was a chance to protect a source, instead of cleaning something that had already been contaminated."

Another job bonus, Morgenstern says, is that EWEB has no enforcement capability, only the powers of gentle persuasion.

"When you're a DEQ regulator, people view you much differently," he says.

When he was in Seattle, Morgenstern liked to sail his 16-foot sailboat on Lake Washington.

On one occasion, he was in need of a crew member, and a friend of a friend volunteered.

Her name was Susan Turnblom, who today is Morgenstern's wife and the mother of their two daughters.

Morgenstern's sailboat is named the Jalapeno, and while he didn't christen it, the name seems appropriate.

Under the name of the Oregon Chili Co., Morgenstern used to grow and sell his hot chili peppers locally, even operating a booth at Saturday Market.

Parenthood put an end to that pastime, but the family still enjoys sailing the Jalapeno on vacations, especially each summer at Crescent Lake east of Willamette Pass - a considerable distance from the McKenzie.

By contrast, Morgenstern's passion for the McKenzie watershed is such that it's harder for him to relax there, despite its many amenities.

"It's like staying home and seeing all the weeds in the backyard and all the projects waiting to be done," he says.

KARL MORGENSTERN

Age: 43

Job: Drinking water source protection coordinator at EWEB

Family: Wife, Susan Turnblom; two daughters, Camille, 10, and Sophie, 5

Hobbies: Camping, sailing, snow skiing, gardening

Favorite movie: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"

Favorite book: "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver or "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane

Favorite music: "U2 - or anything other than country"

What friends don't know about him: He once tried to start a union among employees at Sandia Peak, the ski area closest to his childhood home in New Mexico