Portland Water Bureau defends cost, necessity of $2B filtration facility

Portland city leaders are defending the multi-billion-dollar water filtration facility the Water Bureau is building in Multnomah County. This project will bring the city into compliance with federal drinking water rules and affect ratepayers’ bills for years to come.

The federal government recently approved a $319 million loan to cover part of the cost of the project.

The $2.1 billion filtration plant addresses rules related to the treatment of cryptosporidium – a naturally occurring parasite sometimes found in water.

However, critics near the project site accused the Portland Water Bureau of misleading taxpayers and city leaders on the necessity of the project. They believe the city can do it cheaper and with less disruption to the community around the filtration facility.

“They’ve sold this to the public on the basis that we need this for cryptosporidium, and that is not the case,” nearby resident Ian Courter told KATU.

KATU Investigates has been digging into this issue for months to understand the law. We learned federal rules do require treatment for cryptosporidium, but our investigation found the EPA does not care how water providers do that.

The Oregon Health Authority, which enforces the rule for the EPA, confirmed to KATU that the city of Portland chose filtration but was not required to build the facility. It was only required to treat cryptosporidium.

The expected cost of the project has exploded from roughly $500 million in 2017 to over $2 billion today.

“If you have a cryptosporidium issue, treat for cryptosporidium. You don’t need a full treatment facility like this. Literally save the city of Portland $2 billion and build what you need for cryptosporidium,” Courter said.

UV treatment is the most common alternative to filtration and is much cheaper. However, the city council opted against that method in 2017 and signed a binding agreement with OHA to build the filtration facility by September 2027.

“When the cost kept increasing over the last five or six years, given the situation the city was in financially, did the water bureau ever have discussions about going back to OHA and saying, ‘Hey, can we satisfy this requirement with UV [treatment]?’ And then as the city’s in a better financial position to afford the filtration. We can take that on at that point in the future. Was that ever considered,? KATU asked PWB Chief Engineer Jodie Inman.

“So, because the city’s financial situation is current, and we were making this decision — the decision to go with filtration back in 2017 is eight years old — we didn’t really ever go back and look at it. I think one of the primary directives that we’ve been operating under, and that our city leadership has been very clear on, is that we want to make smart and efficient investments. And a lot of that has to do with deciding, do you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on [UV] that we would still be paying for in 10 to 15 years when we would need to be starting to build filtration?” Inman said.

https://katu.com/news/katu-investigates/portland-water-bureau-defends-cost-necessity-of-2b-filtration-facility

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Author: KATU News
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News post in at: December 18, 2024, 3:00 am.

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