Portland Water Bureau - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Portland Water Bureau is the municipal water department for the city of Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

in the U.S. state of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. The bureau manages a water supply that comes mainly from the Bull Run River

Bull Run River (Oregon)

The Bull Run River is a tributary of the Sandy River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the lower end of Bull Run Lake in the Cascade Range, it flows generally west through the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit , a restricted area meant to protect the river and its tributaries from...

in the foothills of the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

east of the city and secondarily from the Columbia South Shore Well Field near the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

. As of 2010, Randy Leonard

Randy Leonard

Randy Leonard is a politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He is currently a city commissioner in Portland, serving his third term on the Portland City Council.-Career:...

is the city commissioner in charge of the bureau, and the chief administrator is David G. Shaff. The budget for fiscal year 2009–10 is about $148 million.

Sources private and public

In 1843 or 1844, William Overton

William Overton (Portland founder)

William Overton was a pioneer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. In the mid-1840s he purchased the land claim, along with Asa Lovejoy, for the site which would become Portland, Oregon. Overton sold his share shortly thereafter to Francis Pettygrove.According to...

and Asa Lovejoy

Asa Lovejoy

Asa Lawrence Lovejoy was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon...

, while traveling by canoe from Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...

to Oregon City

Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...

, stopped to rest on the west bank of the Willamette River

Willamette River

The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...

and agreed it would be a good place for a town. Laying claim to 640 acres (259 ha) of riverfront land, they founded what in 1851 became the incorporated

Municipal corporation

A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...

city of Portland. Relying entirely on water from well

Water well

A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...

s until the mid-1850s, Portland residents became concerned when polluted drainage from the city's growing number of houses began to contaminate the wells. In 1856, Pioneer Water Works, a private company, got permission from Portland's government to pipe water from Caruthers Creek to some of these homes. Twice changing hands and becoming the Portland Water Company, the business added new pipes and pumps to obtain water from Balch Creek

Balch Creek

Balch Creek is a tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the crest of the Tualatin Mountains , the creek flows generally east down a canyon along Northwest Cornell Road in unincorporated Multnomah County and through the Macleay Park section of Forest Park, a...

and the Willamette River

Willamette River

, but failed to meet ever-increasing demand for clean water. Based on water-quality surveys and engineering studies, the Portland Fire and Water Committee recommended in 1872 that the City build its own water system. To issue bonds to finance the project, it needed state approval.

The Oregon Legislature

Oregon Legislative Assembly

The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...

denied approval until 1884–85, when waste from upstream factories and towns—as well as Portland's own waste, returned to Portland by tidal fluctations on the Willamette—caused another pollution crisis. In the face of public protests about dirty water, the legislature relented, and the Portland Water Committee began work on a municipal system in 1885. The Water Committee was also created because of the political rivalry between Joseph Simon

Joseph Simon

Joseph Simon was a German-born politician and attorney in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Bechtheim, Germany, and his family immigrated to the United States when he was one year old, settling in Portland, Oregon. A Republican, Simon served on the city council before election to the Oregon...

and John H. Mitchell

John H. Mitchell

John Hipple Mitchell, also known as John Mitchell Hipple, John H. Mitchell, or J. H. Mitchell was a controversial American lawyer and politician, who served as a Republican United States Senator from Oregon on three occasions between 1872 and 1905...

. Simon was attempting to isolate the power of the Mitchell faction.

The 15-member committee was made up of the most prominent businessmen in Portland, and was led by Henry Failing

Henry Failing

Henry Failing was a banker, and one of the leading businessmen of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. He was one of Portland, Oregon's earliest residents, and served as that city's mayor for three two-year terms...

. It was derisively named the "Oligarchy

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...

of 15" by a 6-1 vote of the Portland City Council. While Failing was the official leader through 1897, "William S. Ladd

William S. Ladd

William Sargent Ladd was an American politician and businessman in Oregon. He twice served as Portland, Oregon’s mayor in the 1850s. A native of Vermont, he was a prominent figure in the early development of Portland, and co-founded the first bank in the state in 1859...

was the dominant spirit", and meetings were always held at his Ladd & Tilton Bank. Ladd also supplied an initial $20,000 needed for the system.

The committee bought the infrastructure of the Portland Water Company in 1886 and began a search for a superior water source, which led them to the Bull Run Watershed in 1887. A committee meeting in early 1887 selected Bull Run with only Simeon Reed opposing the development, who favored continuing to use the Willamette.

Isaac W. Smith

Isaac W. Smith (surveyor)

Isaac Williams Smith was an American soldier, surveyor and engineer.-Early life:Smith was born in 1826 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the son of Episcopalian preacher Reverend George A...

an engineer and surveyor, was commissioned to inspect any viable water supply in the region. After considering options including Oswego Lake

Oswego Lake

Oswego Lake is a privately owned lake in Clackamas County, Oregon that is completely surrounded by the city of Lake Oswego. Though the lake is naturally occurring , it is considered a reservoir because of the concrete dam that has increased its size to .-Geologic history:The lake is a former...

and the Clackamas River

Clackamas River

The Clackamas River is an approximately tributary of the Willamette River in northwestern Oregon, in the United States. As it drains an area of about , the Clackamas passes through mostly forested and rugged mountainous terrain in its upper reaches, and passes through agricultural and urban areas...

, Smith settled on the Bull Run River as the most likely prospect. A five-month survey trip led Smith to conclude that a gravity-flow system could deliver clean water from the river to Portland. The committee and Judge Matthew Deady

Matthew Deady

Matthew Paul Deady was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the newly created federal court of the state...

drafted a bill to finance the $500,000 cost. It was vetoed by Governor Sylvester Pennoyer

Sylvester Pennoyer

Sylvester Pennoyer was an American educator, attorney, and politician in Oregon. He was born in New York, attended Harvard Law School, and moved to Oregon at age 25. A Democrat, he served two terms as the eighth Governor of Oregon from 1886 to 1895. He joined the Populist cause in the early 1890s...

in early 1889, which led Deady to state "in view of his impracticable, cranky nature and conduct he ought to be called Sylpester Annoyer."

Most landowners along the Bull Run stream agreed to sell their rights for nominal fees. One exception was a civil engineer who, based on his own investigations, had bought land and water rights along the river in hopes of re-selling them to the city. After much negotiating, he relinquished his rights in 1888. In 1891, the Oregon Legislature

Oregon Legislative Assembly

authorized the city to sell bonds to pay for the Bull Run project, which began delivering water to Portland in 1895.

When the Bull Run water first arrived in Portland in January 1895, Pennoyer was asked to give a toast. "After tasting his glass of Bull Run water he commented that it had neither body nor flavor; he much preferred the old Willamette".

Protecting the supply

To protect the water supply from contamination, the committee sought federal help in reducing logging and tree-clearing in the watershed. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...

, using powers granted to him by the Forest Reserve Act of 1891

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 is a law that allowed the President of the United States to set aside forest reserves from the land in the public domain. Passed by the United States Congress under Benjamin Harrison's administration...

, established the Bull Run Forest Reserve, later included in the Bull Run National Forest

Bull Run National Forest

Bull Run National Forest was established as the Bull Run Forest Reserve by the General Land Office in Oregon on June 17, 1892 with . After the transfer of federal forests to the U.S. Forest Service in 1905, it became a National Forest on March 4, 1907...

. This law prohibited settlement in the 142000 acres (574.7 km²) reserve and made it easier for the committee to acquire private land and water right

Water right

Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious...

s in the basin.

Despite the new restrictions, fishing, hunting, camping, and cattle and sheep grazing were still allowed. The committee sought further restrictions, and in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

signed into law the Bull Run Trespass Act to further protect the reserve and the water. Over the next half-century, the Portland Water Board, the committee's successor, added diversion structures, storage reservoirs, treatment equipment, and water conduits to the original system. However, by the mid-1950s, the City of Portland and the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

began to strongly disagree about logging in and public access to the watershed. In 1959, the Forest Service opened 42500 acres (172 km²) to recreation, and in 1960 Congress passed the Multiple-Use – Sustained Yield Act

Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act of 1960

The Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act of 1960 is a federal law passed by the US Congress on June 12, 1960. This law authorizes and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and administer the renewable resources of timber, range, water, recreation and wildlife on the national forests for...

that, among other things, stressed timber production in the national forests. Between the late 1950s and 1976, the Forest Service allowed about 8700 acres (35.2 km²) to be logged in the reserve.

Ruling on a citizen lawsuit, Miller v. Mallery, Judge James M. Burns

James M. Burns

James Milton Burns was a United States federal judge.Born in Portland, Oregon, Burns was in the United States Army during World War II from 1943 to 1945, and thereafter received a B.A. from the University of Portland in 1947 and a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1950...

agreed in 1976 that logging in the reserve violated the Trespass Act of 1904. He ordered that further recreation, logging, and hydropower

Hydropower

Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

development cease in the reserve. Because it wanted to develop hydropower along the Bull Run River, the City of Portland sought revised legislation. U.S. Representative Robert B. Duncan

Robert B. Duncan

Robert Blackford Duncan was an American politician from the state of Oregon. A Democrat, he served multiple terms in the Oregon Legislative Assembly and as a U.S. congressman from Oregon. In the Oregon House of Representatives he served as speaker for four years, and in the U.S. House he...

and U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield

Mark Hatfield

Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...

introduced such legislation, which led in 1977 to passage of the Bull Run Watershed Management Act. It established the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit (BRWMU) and removed Portland's control over the fraction of the reserve that had been opened to recreation in 1959. Although the new law allowed hydropower production within the BRWMU, the unit's main purpose was to produce pure drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

for the City of Portland and other entities in the Portland metropolitan area

Portland metropolitan area

The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...

. Shortly thereafter, the City built the Portland Hydroelectric Project, which included two powerhouse

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

s and a transmission line. Logging did not immediately cease in the unit because the new law allowed activities unless they could be shown to reduce water quality. While the City and the Forest Service worked on water-quality standards, logging continued on a smaller scale, including a 1983 operation to salvage about 1700 acres (6.9 km²) of trees downed by a windstorm. Between 1958 and 1993, when all timber-cutting operations ceased in the BRWMU, about 14500 acres (58.7 km²), roughly 22 percent of the water-supply drainage, had been logged.

Subsequent legislation affecting the watershed included federal designation in 1994 of about 75 percent of the BRWMU as a reserve for protecting the Northern Spotted Owl and other species dependent on old-growth forests. This designation further restricted logging. In 1996, the Oregon Resources Conservation Act generally prohibited logging on all Forest Service lands within the Bull Run water-supply drainage and another 3500 acres (14.2 km²) of land that drained to the lower Bull Run River. In 2001, President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

signed the Little Sandy Act, which extended the prohibitions to the entire BRWMU and expanded it to include public lands along the Little Sandy River

Little Sandy River (Oregon)

The Little Sandy River is a tributary, roughly long, of the Bull Run River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Forming west of Mount Hood in the Mount Hood National Forest, it flows generally west, roughly parallel to the Sandy River to the south...

, a tributary of the Bull Run River. In addition, the Safe Drinking Water Act

Safe Drinking Water Act

The Safe Drinking Water Act is the principle federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to the act, the Environmental Protection Agency is required to set standards for drinking water quality and oversee all states, localities, and water...

, the Clean Water Act

Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that...

, the Northwest Forest Plan

Northwest Forest Plan

The Northwest Forest Plan is a series of federal policies and guidelines governing land use on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It covers areas ranging from Northern California to western Washington...

, and the Endangered Species Act

Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...

all regulate the unit.

Although the BRWMU is generally closed to the public, the Portland Water Bureau offers tours of the watershed, usually in the summer or fall. In addition, the Pacific Crest Trail

Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail is a long-distance mountain hiking and equestrian trail on the Western Seaboard of the United States. The southern terminus is at the California border with Mexico...

, heavily used for hiking, crosses the watershed along the eastern boundary of the management unit.

Bull Run Lake to headworks

One large natural lake, two artificial reservoirs, and the Bull Run River and its tributaries lie within the watershed. Seasonal precipitation produces streamflows that vary from up to (49,000,000 m³) per day to as low as (110,000 m³) per day.

Bull Run Lake, the highest lake in the watershed, is natural. When it is full, its surface is at 3174 to 3178 ft (967.4 to 968.7 m) above sea level. Water from the lake seeps through the ground into the river at a rate of a day and flows into artificial reservoirs at two points further downstream.

The Portland Water Bureau built Dam 1, a concrete arch-gravity dam

Arch-gravity dam

An arch-gravity dam, curved-gravity dam or arched dam is a dam with the characteristics of both an arch dam and a gravity dam. It is a dam that curves upstream in a narrowing curve that directs most of the water against the canyon rock walls, providing the force to compress the dam...

, in 1929 to create Reservoir 1, also known as Ben Morrow Lake. The larger of the two reservoirs, it holds a maximum of . In 1962, the bureau finished Dam 2, an earthfill dam

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

with a maximum storage capacity of . Although the two reservoirs combined can hold up to about , the total usable storage is about .

The raw water intake (headworks) at Bull Run is located just below Dam 2, at or . This is where water is diverted from the river for chlorination

Chlorination

Chlorination is the process of adding the element chlorine to water as a method of water purification to make it fit for human consumption as drinking water...

and then routed into distribution conduits for delivery to Portland. The average rate of the water flow at the headworks is about 773 cuft/s. About 23 percent of the watershed's annual runoff is diverted to the city's water supply.

Headworks to water taps

Starting at an elevation of about 860 feet (262.1 m) above sea level, Bull Run water flows by gravity from the headworks through three large pipes to an underground reservoir at Powell Butte Nature Park in east Portland. The pipes, above ground in places, are vulnerable to landslides, falling trees, earthquakes, and other hazards. In 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...

(FEMA) granted $3 million to the city for seismic upgrade

Seismic retrofit

Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent experiences with large earthquakes near urban centers,...

s to pipes where they cross trestle

Trestle

A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent...

s above streams.

The Powell Butte underground reservoir, first used in 1981, is near the intersection of Southeast 158th Avenue and Southeast Powell Boulevard in southeast Portland. The reservoir, with a capacity of , has an overflow elevation of about 530 feet (161.5 m) above sea level. During droughts or emergencies, water can be pumped about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) from city-owned wells near the Columbia River to Powell Butte, where it mixes with Bull Run water. From Powell Butte, water can flow by gravity to places as far away as parts of Washington County

Washington County, Oregon

- Major highways :* Interstate 5* Interstate 205* U.S. Route 26* Oregon Route 6* Oregon Route 8* Oregon Route 10* Oregon Route 47* Oregon Route 99W* Oregon Route 210* Oregon Route 217* Oregon Route 219-Demographics:...

, west of Portland. The Washington County Supply Line, 14 miles (22.5 km) long, can deliver up to a day to customers in Tualatin

Tualatin, Oregon

Tualatin is a city located primarily in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. A small portion of the city is also located in neighboring Clackamas County. It is a southwestern suburb in the Portland Metropolitan Area that is located south of Tigard...

, the Tualatin Valley

Tualatin Valley

The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon in the United States. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, east of the Northern Oregon Coast Range...

and Raleigh Hills

Raleigh Hills, Oregon

Raleigh Hills is a census-designated place and neighborhood within the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It is located in the southwest hills in Washington County, with Beaverton to the west, West Slope to the north, and Progress and Garden Home to the south...

. Overall, the City of Portland provides water to residents of Portland and 19 suburban cities and water districts comprising nearly 25 percent of the Oregon population.

In addition to the reservoir at Powell Butte, as of 2009 the city of Portland has five large open drinking water reservoirs and an underground reservoir in two city parks at lower elevations, and is working on a second reservoir at Powell Butte. Reservoirs 1, 5, and 6, which are open, and Reservoir 7, which is underground, are in Mount Tabor Park in southeast Portland, and Reservoirs 3 and 4 are in Washington Park in southwest Portland. Reservoir 2 at Mount Tabor was abandoned in 1976. Work began in September 2009 on a second underground reservoir to be completed by 2013 at Powell Butte. Its storage capacity is meant to offset the loss of the five open reservoirs at Mount Tabor and Washington parks, which will be disconnected from the water system by 2015. The three functioning Mount Tabor reservoirs, including gatehouse

Gatehouse

A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...

s, wrought-iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

fences, and ornate lampposts, in Mount Tabor Park, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. The Washington Park reservoirs and their gatehouses and fences are also listed on the National Register.

Storage reservoirs in the city
Number	Location (park)	Date built	Capacity	Maximum depth	Walking circumference	Remarks
1	Mount Tabor (upper southern flank)	1894	12 million US gallons (45,000 m³)	32 feet (9.8 m)	0.2 mile (0.321868 km)	Supplies water to distribution system and Portland's west side.
2	Mount Tabor	1894	20 million US gallons (76,000 m³)	–	–	Abandoned 1976
3	Washington	1894	16.4 million US gallons (62,000 m³)	49 feet (14.9 m)	0.25 mile (0.402335 km)	Water arrives mainly by gravity feed from Reservoir 5 at Mount Tabor. Supplies the parts of the city in the low hills west of the Willamette River.
4	Washington	1894	17.6 million US gallons (67,000 m³)	–	–	–
5	Mount Tabor (western flank)	1911	49 million US gallons (190,000 m³)	39 feet (11.9 m)	0.4 mile (0.643736 km)	Feeds Reservoir 6 further downhill as well as Reservoir 3 in Washington Park. Its outflow generates electricity to power lights and equipment in Mount Tabor Park.
6	Mount Tabor (lower western flank)	1911	37 million US gallons (140,000 m³) per basin	17 feet (5.2 m)	0.53 mile (0.8529502 km)	Rectangular, divided by a wall into two equal basins (active and empty) alternated every six months after reservoir cleaning. Supplies lower-elevation neighborhoods on Portland's east side.
7	Mount Tabor (underground)	1912	200000 gallons (757.1 m³)	–	–	–
Powell Butte	Powell Butte	1981		–	–	Receives water from Bull Run and, when necessary, city-owned wells. Supplies distribution system and suburbs.
Powell Butte 2	Powell Butte	–		–	–	Scheduled for completion by 2013.

From the storage reservoirs, much of the water flows or is pumped into 64 water-storage tanks distributed around the city to provide each neighborhood with enough water pressure for regular use and for firefighting. Tanks of concrete or steel are either buried, partly buried, at ground-level, elevated, or set up as cylindrical standpipe

Water tower

A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....

s. Concrete tanks hold between 60000 gallons (227.1 m³) and , and steel tanks hold from 30000 gallons (113.6 m³) to more than . The oldest tanks in the system date to 1907 and 1909, while the newest tank was built in 2001. Water flows through the tanks continuously to ensure that the water reaching customers is fresh. From the tanks, water flows through underground pipes called "water mains" from which small branch pipes lead to individual water meter

Water meter

A water meter is a device used to measure the volume of water usage. This article provides an overview of technical aspects of water meters. The worldwide prevalence of metering as well as its economic benefits and costs are covered in the separate article on water metering.In many developed...

s and then the private water pipes of individual homes and businesses.

Treatment

Portland's raw water from Bull Run is of such high quality, among the best in the U.S., that it does not need to be filtered. The bureau monitors water quality at Bull Run Lake, the two reservoirs, the mouths of the four major tributaries that enter the reservoirs, and at the raw-water intake at the headworks. The supply complies with all state and federal regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act

Safe Drinking Water Act

(SDWA).

To treat the raw water, the bureau uses a process called chloramination

Chloramination

Chloramination is the treatment of drinking water with a chloramine disinfectant. Both chlorine and small amounts of ammonia are added to the water one at a time which react together to form chloramine , a long lasting disinfectant...

, which disinfects the water with chlorine

Chlorine

Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...

then adds ammonia

Ammonia

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...

to prolong the chlorine's effectiveness. Although these additives kill microorganisms such as coloform

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

bacteria and giardia

Giardia

Giardia is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylum Metamonada in the supergroup "Excavata" that colonise and reproduce in the small intestines of several vertebrates, causing giardiasis, commonly known as Beaver fever...

that can cause disease in humans, they can react with naturally occurring compounds in water to form other compounds such as trihalomethanes. Under provisions of the SDWA, the bureau monitors the levels of disinfectant byproducts to ensure that they remain under the maximum limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

(EPA) and enforced by the Oregon Department of Human Services

Oregon Department of Human Services

The Oregon Department of Human Services is the primary health and human services agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The ODHS was established in 1971 as the Oregon Department of Human Resources but renamed in 1999...

(ODHS).

Since 1997, in response to targets set by the ODHS, the bureau has been adding sodium hydroxide to the water to reduce its potential for corroding lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

and copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

in home plumbing. The treatment, which makes the water less acidic, has resulted in “at least a 50 percent reduction in lead at the tap... ”. The target pH

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

range is 7.8 to 8.0.

Limiting contamination

Long protected by land-use controls, the watershed is free of contaminants of concern except for naturally occurring microbes such as Giardia lamblia

Giardia lamblia

Giardia lamblia is a flagellated protozoan parasite that colonizes and reproduces in the small intestine, causing giardiasis. The giardia parasite attaches to the epithelium by a ventral adhesive disc, and reproduces via binary fission...

, Cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidiosis

Cryptosporidiosis, also known as crypto, is a parasitic disease caused by Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite in the phylum Apicomplexa. It affects the intestines of mammals and is typically an acute short-term infection...

, fecal coliform bacteria

Fecal coliforms

A fecal coliform is a facultatively-anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-sporulating bacterium. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth in the presence of bile salts or similar surface agents, are oxidase negative, and produce acid and gas from lactose within 48 hours at 44 ± 0.5°C.Coliform...

and total coliform bacteria

Coliform bacteria

Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming bacteria which can ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35-37°C...

, which are found in virtually all freshwater ecosystems. In the Bull Run watershed, sources of giardia and fecal coliform bacteria are limited to wildlife such as deer, Elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, Cougar, and North American Beaver. Sources of Cryptosporidium include most species of wild mammals and several bird species. A fence around the diversion pool at the headworks prevents direct animal contact with water near the system intake.

All water supplied by Portland's public water system meets or surpasses federal and state drinking water standards. Each year, the water bureau analyzes more than 10,000 water samples from reservoirs in the watershed and in the city, from groundwater, and from the distribution system and consumers' taps. The monitoring schedules comply with federal and state regulations, and records of the analyses are available to the public.

To comply with the EPA's Total Coliform Rule of 1990, the water bureau must collect and analyze at least 210 water samples each month from its distribution system. The rule requires that total coliform bacteria be absent in 95 percent of the samples; if a positive sample is found, three more samples must be collected and analyzed within 24 hours. Any positive Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

(E. coli) sample followed by a positive total coliform sample, or a positive total coliform sample followed by a positive E. coli sample is a violation of the Total Coliform Rule. In practice, following guidelines approved by the State of Oregon in 2005, the water bureau analyzes between 250 and 350 samples each month. Between 1990 and late November 2009, a total of 14 water samples tested positive for E. coli but all follow-up samples tested negative.

However, routine water samples collected beginning November 25, 2009, from Reservoir 3 in Washington Park indicated the presence of E. coli in the follow-up test as well as the first test. The water bureau issued a boil-water advisory to its customers west of the Willamette River on November 28, 2009, as well as customers of the Valley View, Burlington and Palatine Hill water districts. The advisory was lifted on November 29, 2009.

Another EPA rule, the Long Term 2 Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2) of 2000, has been the subject of controversy between the EPA and the City of Portland. This supplement to the Clean Water Act of 1996 was designed to reduce illness linked to Cryptosporidium and other microbes in drinking-water systems. The rule, which applies to any drinking-water system in the U.S. that uses surface water or groundwater, is relevant to about 14,000 systems. The City of Portland has argued that the Cryptosporidium threat to the city's water is so low that the EPA rule should not apply to Portland, but its efforts to seek legal or legislative relief have been unsuccessful. A legal challenge was denied in 2007, and Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley

Jeff Merkley

Jeffrey Alan "Jeff" Merkley is the junior United States Senator from Oregon. A member of the Democratic Party, Merkley was a five-term member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly representing House District 47, located in eastern Multnomah County within the Portland city limits...

informed the water bureau in June 2009 that a legislative approach had little chance of success. Meanwhile, the bureau is pursuing "multiple and simultaneous paths to comply with LT2". On January 13, 2010, the EPA rejected the city's request for a variance from LT2 that would allow have allowed it to continue to use open reservoirs. The city is building new underground reservoirs to replace the open reservoirs, and it plans to treat the source water with ultraviolet

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...

UV light unless the EPA grants a variance or an acceptable alternative can be found. The EPA deadline for compliance is April 2014.

PPCPs

Although the EPA does not require testing for pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCP)s in drinking water, the Portland Water Bureau monitors the Bull Run and groundwater supplies for their presence. PPCPs include prescription and non-prescription drugs for humans, veterinary drugs, vitamins, cosmetics, diagnostic agents, and other personal-care or pharmaceutical chemicals. When the Bull Run water was first tested for PPCPs in August 2006, the water bureau found an extremely low level, 9.2 parts per trillion of caffeine

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

. Regulated contaminants are generally measured in parts per billion, which is a thousand times larger than parts per trillion. Tests of the groundwater in October 2007 found extremely low levels (25 parts per trillion or less) of acetaminophen

Paracetamol

Paracetamol INN , or acetaminophen USAN , is a widely used over-the-counter analgesic and antipyretic . It is commonly used for the relief of headaches and other minor aches and pains and is a major ingredient in numerous cold and flu remedies...

, caffeine, ibuprofen

Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for relief of symptoms of arthritis, fever, as an analgesic , especially where there is an inflammatory component, and dysmenorrhea....

, and sulfamethoxazole

Sulfamethoxazole

Sulfamethoxazole is a sulfonamide bacteriostatic antibiotic.It is most often used as part of a synergistic combination with trimethoprim in a 5:1 ratio in co-trimoxazole , also known under trade names such as Bactrim, Septrin, or Septra; in Eastern Europe it is marketed as Biseptol...

. Testing in April and May 2008 found no PPCPs in the Bull Run supply and trace amounts (18 parts per trillion or less) of estradiol

Estradiol

Estradiol is a sex hormone. Estradiol is abbreviated E2 as it has 2 hydroxyl groups in its molecular structure. Estrone has 1 and estriol has 3 . Estradiol is about 10 times as potent as estrone and about 80 times as potent as estriol in its estrogenic effect...

and ethinyl estradiol in the groundwater supply. In August and November 2008, tests found no PPCPs in the groundwater supply.

Works cited

Scott, Harvey Whitefield (1890). History of Portland, Oregon, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers. Syracuse, New York: D. Mason & Company. Retrieved on March 4, 2010.
Short, Casey (1983). Water: Portland's Precious Heritage. Portland, Oregon: City of Portland.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.