The
League of Women Voters®
of Clackamas County
of Clackamas County
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The
League of Women Voters®
of Clackamas County |
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Scope: A two year study in three parts on water resources and municipal distribution of water in West Clackamas County, including but not limited to the following: a) historic perspective, including, state, local, and national positions, b) current and potential resources, c) needs, past, current and future, d) water quality, e) environmental constraints. Part I provides a regional overview of resources needs, water quality, environmental constraints, regulatory framework and governance. It is presented for information and discussion. The Columbia River Region League of Women Voters has undertaken a detailed study of regional drinking water ownership and water systems, particularly of Bull Run water. Regional consensus and positions will come from that study. Parts II and III are scheduled for 2002-2003. Part II will deal with the Clackamas River as the major drinking water source for Clackamas County up to water intakes at the treatment plants. Part III will review local, state and national positions and will discuss water supply from treatment plant or well to end-user in West Clackamas County. Both parts II and III will have questions for discussion and consensus. The Willamette
Basin is about 150 miles long and 75 miles wide. The valley is surrounded
on three sides by hills and mountains. On the north end it meets the
Columbia River. The Willamette River is 187 miles long; it is one
of the largest river systems in the continental United States. Land
use in the Basin breaks down to 65% forestry (this number is dropping).
20% agriculture, 9 % urban (and growing) and the rest falls into other
areas. The population in the Willamette Basin has been growing at
a steady rate for 150 years. Today’s population in the basin
is 2.3 million. It is expected to double by 2050, greatly increasing
demand for water. There are three major sources of municipal water in the metropolitan region, the Bull Run system, the Clackamas River system, and the Tualatin-Trask River system. In addition, wells provide lesser amounts of water in several areas. The Willamette Treatment Plant has the potential to become a fourth major water source of drinking water for municipal use. BULL RUN: The system, owned by the City of Portland, provides water for about 800,000 people. Located 26 miles east of Portland, the Bull Run Reserve is separated five miles from the peak of Mt. Hood by a geologic ridge. Rainfall ranging from 80-170 inches per year is the major water source, not snow melt. The system is composed of two huge reservoirs, which hold 17 billion gallons. Due to routine turbidity, only about 11 billion gallons of this amount is normally available. The system is gravity-based, and excess power is sold to PGE. Bull Run has a capacity of 205-210 million gallons per day (MGD). Wells along the Columbia River shore can offer up to an additional 90 MGD. The system has adequate water quantity to provide for the estimated metro area population until the year 2050. Great effort is made to protect the Bull Run Reserve. No sewage treatment or industrial plant effluents, and no farm or forest pesticides drain into the Bull Run. No public recreation or residences are allowed in the Reserve. In the past, logging was permitted in the Reserve. Then beginning about 1970, there was disagreement between environmentalists on the one side and the Portland Water Bureau and the US Forest Service on the other regarding the impact of logging. Environmentalists claimed that logging aggravated turbidity. The other side claimed that logging prevented forest fires. Actual logging stopped in 1993. The matter was resolved with federal legislation in 1995 prohibiting commercial logging in the Reserve. Similar legislation in 2001 was passed affecting the Little Sandy watershed. Unlike water from
the other major sources, water from the system is not filtered or
treated except for chlorinating, as required by the EPA. However,
due to changing standards, additional treatment will be required by
2010 which may cost between $55,000,000 and $204,000,000. This range
is so large because multiple treatment options are being considered.
At present about 75,000 water analyses are performed on about 12,000
samples from the water system each year. CLACKAMAS RIVER: The Clackamas River provides water to about 175,000 people. Current water intake capacity is about 66 MGD on the lower 5 miles of the river. Another 22.5 MGD expansion is planned within the next 10 years. The Clackamas River runs diagonally from the southeastern corner of Clackamas County to the county’s northwest corner near the Willamette River. The sources of the river include its watershed, Timothy Lake, and Olallie Lake in Jefferson and Marion Counties. The watershed can roughly be divided in half, with nearly all of the upper watershed within the Mt. Hood National Forest, managed by the US Forest Service. About 72% of the total land in the watershed is publicly owned, about 3% is tribal and 25% is privately owned. The river has four major dams, all of them generating electricity for Portland General Electric. Discharge into
the river is limited. There are eight non-major sources on the river
that have discharge permits. There are an additional two overflow
permits. However, Department of Environmental Quality’s Three
Basin Rule, (1995), which applies to the Clackamas, North Santiam
and McKenzie Rivers, prohibits putting additional municipal sewage
or industrial effluent into the rivers. (Sewage treatment plants located
near the mouth of the Clackamas River discharge treated water into
the Willamette River.) Public recreation is allowed on the Clackamas
and its sources, for the most part, although access is not always
easy. TUALATIN/TRASK RIVERS: The Tualatin/Trask River system begins at the far west end of Washington County and supplies 73 MGD of water. By intergovernmental agreement, Joint Water Commission ownership includes cities such as Forest Grove, Hillsboro and Beaverton, Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD) and certain additional areas. It serves about 250,000 people. The high tech industry is a major consumer. Barney and Hagg Lake are the reservoirs. Hagg Lake is heavily used for recreation. Motorized boating is allowed on portions of the reservoir. A timber company discharges effluent by permit into Scoggins Creek. The TVWD is proposing pipes to carry the water from Hagg Lake to the Tualatin, bypassing the timber company effluent and any possible failing septic tanks. There are no sewage treatment plants above the major water intake located south of Forest Grove. There is a minor intake located at Cherry Grove. Tualatin Valley
Water District is the largest customer for the Bull Run system with
about 160,000 customers. TVWD normally receives about 60% of its water
from the Bull Run system, and about 40% of its water from the Tualatin/Trask.
However, due to last year’s drought, about 80% of its water came
from the Bull Run, and about 20% from the Tualatin/Trask. TVWD then
provided some of its water in the Tualatin system to other members
of the Joint Water Commission. WILLAMETTE RIVER: The $49,000,000 Willamette Treatment Plant in Wilsonville came on-line about April 17, 2002. The plant’s co-owners are the city of Wilsonville and the Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD). Wilsonville holds water rights for 20 MGD and TVWD has rights for 130 MGD, making a total of 150 MGD of Willamette River water available between them. (The state Department of Corrections contributed $10,000,000 to the cost of the treatment plant.) At present, the plant’s prime customer appears to be the city of Wilsonville. Original plans called for the cities of Sherwood, Tualatin and Tigard, and eventually TVWD, to serve as customers; this appears unlikely at present. Immediate plant capacity is 15 MGD with two to six MGD scheduled for initial production. Ultimate plant capacity after modular expansion could be 70 MGD. Twenty or more
major sewage treatment plants and industries drain effluent into the
Willamette upriver from Wilsonville. Pollution also comes from surface
runoff, especially from agricultural areas. Parts of the Willamette
are heavily used for recreation, including boating and fishing although
advisories have been issued regarding eating the fish, on occasion. Water is supplied by a variety of governmental agencies. The most familiar is a city water department. The department is a division of city government and is frequently an enterprise fund. That is to say, the fund pays for itself through revenue from sales of water. This greatly decreases the need for general tax revenue to be used to support the provision of water. Three other types of water purveyors also exist in Oregon. The first is a water district. Water districts are county chartered municipal corporations. They are not-for-profit tax exempt organizations with elected boards of directors. The organization and function of water districts is governed by the State. Some districts were formed to serve urbanizing areas that were not annexed into cities or some serve a group of cities. For example, South Fork Water District was formed to serve Oregon City, West Linn and Gladstone. Numerous small water districts serve areas throughout the state. The second type of water purveyor is the Peoples Utility District or PUD. PUD’s were first allowed to form in 1930 as a way to provide utility service to customers who otherwise would not be served by utility providers. Each customer is also a member of the PUD. Memberships are paid annually and dues are at least $5.00 but not more than $100.00 per year with provisions made to allow low income/financially disadvantaged individuals to be members. Oregon PUD's are defined in the Oregon Revised Statutes. There are currently six active PUD's in Oregon. They are similar in structure to Rural Electric Cooperatives in other parts of the country. The Emerald Peoples Utility District in Eugene is the largest in the state providing both water and electricity. The third type of purveyor is a group of governing agencies who can choose to work together to provide water. The most common way this is done is with an intergovernmental agreement, called an IGA. IGA’s are negotiated between parties and can be dissolved by terms agreed upon in this agreement. Intergovernmental agreements occur in many forms and are widely used for many governmental functions. The Joint Water Commission, for example, was formed by intergovernmental agreement. A regional water system could be a method of providing water to a large area or population, combining the resources of multiple water providers, large water rights and spreading the cost of the system among many users. It can be a stable and cost effective way to provide water resources. A regional system could be formed either by IGA or take the form of a PUD. In the metropolitan
area, a provider consortium was created through an intergovernmental
agreement and formed to implement the Regional Water Supply Plan and
work on water issues of regional interest. It is a group composed
of Beaverton, Clackamas River Water, Fairview, Forest Grove, Gladstone,
Gresham, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Oak Lodge Water District,
Portland, Powell Valley Water District, Raleigh Water District , Rockwood
Water PUD, Sandy, South Fork Water District, Sunrise Water Authority,Tigard,
Tualatin, Tualatin Valley Water District, Wilsonville, and West Slope
Water District . The participating agencies for the Bull Run Regional Group include the Clackamas River Water and Sunrise Water Authority from Clackamas County; the Cities of Gresham and Portland, Powell Valley Water District, Raleigh Water District, and Rockwood PUD from Multnomah County; the Cities of Beaverton, Tigard, and Tualatin, Tualatin Valley Water District, Clean Water Services (formerly United Sewerage Agency), and West Slope Water District from Washington County; and Metro. The organizations
are somewhat confusing, since some water providers belong to both
groups. The difference is as follows: the Regional Water Providers
Consortium is a voluntary grouping of water providers who own their
own facilities and would continue to be separate but cooperate in
the provision of water to participating areas. The Bull Run Regional
Water Initiative would ultimately form a ‘super agency’
that is governmental in form, and the agency would own certain water
sources and distribution system. It would be similar to a “Metro
water government”.
“Under Oregon
law, all water is publicly owned. With some exceptions cities, farmers,
factory owners, and other users must obtain a permit or water right
from the Water Resources Department to use water from any source -
whether it is underground, or from lakes or streams.” Water usage in
Oregon is controlled by various agencies depending on the use of the
water. Municipal water use is licensed by Water Resources Department
through the granting of water rights. Drinking water is regulated
by the Oregon Health Division. Wastewater from sewage treatment plants
is governed by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), as
is the industrial effluent discharge from factories and manufacturing
facilities. DEQ also regulates water quality discharges from landfills.
Therefore collection and retention of water is very important. Long term surface collectors are lakes and reservoirs retained by dams. These dams also may provide for hydroelectric generation, flood control, fish protection, water temperature control, and pollution dilution. Any or all of these uses may impact provision of water for consumption, either seasonally or full time. Underground water is collected in aquifers and tapped by wells. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is a new to Oregon technology. In ASR, the empty aquifers are pumped full of water when it is available and pumped out when needed.... a natural underground storage tank. Salem has four ASR wells, Beaverton has a number of working ASR wells, Tigard is working on a large test well for ASR, and Clackamas River Water District is currently converting an existing well to ASR. The
possibility of global climate change introduces another variable to
planning for water use. Current models differ as to the effect of
climate change and no one can predict accurately what any effect may
be. The demand for water is expressed as MGD, which stands for million gallons per day. Daily average demand for the metro area is estimated at 187.6 MGD. The demand is greatest in summer when rain is scarce. Peak demand for water in the metro area is estimated at 398 MGD. The Regional Water Consortium Report estimates the average daily demand for Portland, Eastside (Gresham, Rockwood, Powell Valley Water District, Wood Village, Fairview and undeveloped areas), and Clackamas (Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Canby, Clackamas River Water, South Fork, Oak Lodge, Mt. Scott and Damascus Water Districts) as 128 MGD . The peak daily demand is 269 MGD. These three areas, Portland, Eastside and Clackamas are the focus of the report. Portland water
comes mainly from Bull Run Reservoirs and some from the Columbia South
Shore Well Fields. Eastside water is a combination of Bull Run and
local wells. The Clackamas region draws its water from the Clackamas
River. Short-term emergency water supplies generally consist of reservoirs. A three-day average supply of water is generally considered appropriate. Water providers also have longer-term backup sources, such as connections with other water providers. The Bull Run system primarily depends on the Columbia South Shore well fields for its emergency source. The Clackamas area water providers primarily depend on other Clackamas River sources for their emergency backup. If there were to be a problem in the upper reaches of the Clackamas River, no other significant emergency supply would be available at present. However, Clackamas River Water is currently investigating ASR. The Lake Oswego system and Clackamas River Water do have connections to Portland which could provide small amounts of emergency water. Lake Oswego also has connections via Tualatin and Tigard which might possibly provide emergency water. In addition, installing pipes to connect to the Willamette River treatment plant could provide another emergency source of water. The Tualatin/Trask system is indirectly backed up by Bull Run. Tualatin Valley Water District is Bull Run’s largest customer outside of Portland. Wilsonville is dependent on its own wells and the Willamette River with some limited backup from Tualatin. One of the reasons
for the creation of a regional consortium of 26 water providers was
the recognition that they had limited ability to transport large volumes
of water through out the region to meet added demand or emergencies.
To rectify this situation, providers must raise great capital sums
for improvement or creation of infrastructure. Currently the Consortium’s
main concerns are analysis and planning.
Non point pollution
refers to a use of the land that generates and transports pollutants
to the rivers, or causes pollutants to seep into underground water
sources (leaching) The DEQ estimates 70%-80% of pollution enters the
Willamette River system from non-point sources. Agriculture is second in non point pollution. Current farming practices typically use large amounts of pesticides and highly soluble fertilizers. The Willamette River alone has been found to carry 48 different pesticides. New agricultural computer technology combined with satellite photography is available to reduce amounts of fertilizer and chemicals used, as does a new appreciation of organic agriculture, but progress is slow. Urban and industrial
areas contribute heavy metals, oils and other petroleum products,
solvents, PCBs, Dioxin, herbicides and pesticides, untreated waste
and surface run-off to streams. Failing septic tank systems contribute
to degradation of streams and ground water. Point, also referred to as source, pollution occurs from a specific site or sites. Typical examples are landfills, hazardous waste disposal areas, industrial sites (like pulp and paper mills), chemical-using plants, sewage treatment plants, and large septic systems. These pollution sources are controlled through systems of permits, discharge licenses, periodic self-testing, against set standards and penalties for noncompliance. However, enforcement is weak, and permit renewal is frequently not current. The Willamette
River Above Willamette Falls as a Contrast to Bull Run and the Clackamas
River
Co-chairs Sarah
Chaplen and Christine Roth |
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