Portland Water Bureau
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon |
|---|---|
|
Region served
|
Service district includes more than 20 municipalities in the Portland metropolitan area |
|
Leadership
|
Commissioner Nick Fish and Administrator Michael Stuhr |
| Website | Portland Water Bureau |
The Portland Water Bureau is the municipal water department for the city of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. The bureau manages a water supply that comes mainly from the Bull Run River in the foothills of the Cascade Range east of the city and secondarily from the Columbia South Shore Well Field near the Columbia River. As of 2015, Nick Fish is the city commissioner in charge of the bureau, and the chief administrator is Michael Stuhr. Budgeted departmental revenues for fiscal year 2015–16 included about $157 million for charges for services.
In 1843 or 1844, William Overton and Asa Lovejoy, while traveling by canoe from Fort Vancouver to Oregon City, stopped to rest on the west bank of the Willamette River and agreed it would be a good place for a town. Laying claim to 640 acres (260 ha) of riverfront land, they founded what in 1851 became the incorporated city of Portland. Relying entirely on water from wells 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 and the 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 denied approval until 1884–85, when waste from upstream factories and towns—as well as Portland's own waste, returned to Portland by tidal fluctuations 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 and John H. Mitchell. Simon was attempting to isolate the power of the Mitchell faction.
...
Wikipedia