Clean Water Services
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| Public utility | |
| Genre | Wastewater treatment |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Headquarters | Hillsboro, Oregon, United States |
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Area served
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Washington County |
| Website | cleanwaterservices.org |
Clean Water Services is the water resources management utility for more than 560,000 residents in urban Washington County, Oregon and small portions of Multnomah County, Oregon and Clackamas County, Oregon, in the United States. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment facilities, constructs and maintains flood management and water quality projects, and manages flow into the Tualatin River to improve water quality and protect fish habitat. They are headquartered in Hillsboro.
In 1969, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality placed a temporary halt to new construction in Washington County. On February 3, 1970, ten cities and sixteen sanitary districts combined to form the Unified Sewerage Agency (USA). Later that year, voters in the new district approved a $36 million bond measure to consolidate, construct and upgrade USA's regional public wastewater treatment facilities. The Durham Wastewater Treatment Facility opened in 1976, which replaced 14 smaller treatment plants. Two years later six more treatment plants were replaced with the opening of the Rock Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility.
As population continued to grow in the service area of USA, the water quality of the Tualatin River worsened. In 1986, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center filed a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency, prompting Total maximum daily loads for the Tualatin River. A Clean Water Act amendment added regulation of storm-water runoff, and the Rock Creek Facility achieved 99% removal of ammonia nitrogen. In 1988, the Tualatin Valley Water Quality Endowment Fund was established by the Northwest Environmental Defense Center lawsuit.
USA worked to maintain the quality of the Tualatin River by establishing Surface Water Management (SWM) utility for water quality and drainage in 1990, and began a $200 million facility expansion and upgrade program to meet compliance deadlines. That same year, the agency established the River Rangers program. USA began consumption-based rates and combined billing with water providers in 1994.
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