water supplies than to pay for treatment, or to clean up an already-polluted source."
(Source: "Children and Drinking Water Standards." EPA, December 1999.)
Read more about our history and accomplishments here.
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Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project
After pursuing the Willamette as a future water source for well over a decade, the Tualatin Valley Water District changed its mind and decided to use an expanded Hagg Lake source for future water. The project, known as the Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project, involves raising Scoggins dam 40 ft, roughly doubling the usable volume of Hagg Lake. In addition to the dam raise, a pipeline would be built from the dam to the treatment plant on the Tualatin River. Currently, there is no pipe. The water from Hagg Lake is dumped into the Tualatin River and withdrawn at the treatment plant. With the new pipeline, water could also be pumped from the river into the lake during the winter to ensure filling the reservoir each year.
Though the district is using Hagg Lake water now for about half its needs, it has no water rights to the lake or the Tualatin River; it “leases” the water from Beaverton, Hillsboro, and other Joint Water Commission members who do own water rights. The District does own 5789 acre-feet (about 1.9 billion gallons) of storage in Barney Reservoir in the coast range filled by water from the Trask River. That water is dumped into the Tualatin when needed and withdrawn at the treatment plant, providing the District with about 10.5 MGD averaged over a 180-day peak season.
Is the district really abandoning its long pursuit of the Willamette? There are many things that can go wrong with the proposal to raise Scoggins dam. We suspect the Willamette is still the district's “fall-back” position. After all, the district still has an investment in the Wilsonville Willamette treatment plant, a pending application at the state for another 300+ cfs (cubic feet per second) of Willamette River water, and $200,000 per year budgeted for the Willamette River Water Coalition.
A recent announcement by the Bureau of Reclamation, owner of Scoggins Dam, raises more questions about the cost of the dam raise, or even its feasability. The new dam would have to be designed to withstand a 9.0 earthquake. Drilling at the dam site to test its ability to meet that requirement may delay the project a year.The cost increase may make the Willamette option look cheaper and give the district an excuse to re-evaluate its choice.
All of this is enough reason to continue with our initiative petition to require customer approval before spending any money on any project to use Willamette River water.
The district has purchased Bull Run water from Portland for 80 years. Why change? After months of contentious negotiations with the City of Portland, the district finally signed a 10-year rather than a cheaper 20-year contract for Bull Run water, apparently just long enough to plan and construct another system.
What's wrong with the Willamette? In its publication, Children and Drinking Water Standards, the Environmental Protection Agency states, “It is more desirable, effective and economical to prevent contamination of drinking water supplies than to pay for treatment or to clean up an already polluted source.”
The Willamette River is the quintessential “already polluted source.”
At the other end of the source water quality scale is the 102-square-mile Bull Run watershed. Having supplied the region with water since 1895, it is reserved solely for producing drinking water. The Atlas of Oregon Lakes [Oregon State University Press, 1985] notes, "Nearly a century of protection has permitted the preservation of the small Bull Run drainage basin in a natural state... Access to Bull Run is strictly controlled to minimize human contamination of the water; thus, the drainage basin is pristine and the water quality is excellent.”
We believe water quality should be the first consideration when choosing a source. Bull Run is the best source available and should be used first to the full capacity of the Washington County Supply Line, leaving Hagg Lake as a supplement and an emergency backup. The Willamette should not be used at all until it is cleaned up, unlikely to happen anytime soon.
To reduce the effect of summer peak demand, the district should pursue seriously an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) system like those operating successfully for Beaverton, Tigard, Salem, Pendleton, and many other cities. ASR is a way to store a large volume of water at low cost by pumping it into an underground aquifer during the winter and spring when water is plentiful and drawing it out to meet increased demand during the dry summer months.
Read more about the issue on these web sites:
Citizens For Safe Water asks for State study of how climate change will affect Willamette flow. Millions of pounds of pollutants are discharged each year into the river from industries, sewage treatment plants and other DEQ permit holders. Run-off from agricultural lands adds pesticide, herbicide, and animal waste pollution, More pollution comes from the urban run-off from the large population that resides in the Willamette Valley. The concentration of all this pollution is dependent on how much water is flowing in the river, and that could be impacted by global warming. CFSW is asking the State to fund a study. Read more...
