PORTLAND OR—The Portland Water Bureau received notification from the Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Program (OHA) that it intends to approve the city’s request for a variance to the treatment requirements of the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2). The decision by OHA, pending public review, means the bureau will be able to avoid building an ultraviolet water treatment facility to comply with the rule, saving roughly $55 million in capital costs and approximately 4% in planned rate increases over the next three years.
“This is fantastic news and is testament to the quality of Portland’s water source and its drinking water utility,” said Water Bureau Administrator David G. Shaff. “Our detailed analysis demonstrated that the nature of the Bull Run source made additional treatment for Cryptosporidium unnecessary to protect public health.”
The Portland Water Bureau will be the first drinking water utility ever to receive a variance of this kind. The variance is a provision of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act that allows a utility to comply with drinking water regulations through alternative means. “I am extremely proud of the monumental effort given by the men and women of the Portland Water Bureau to achieve this variance,” said Commissioner Randy Leonard, “Their expertise, commitment and perseverance has yielded an important success for Portlanders.”
In granting the variance request, OHA will require conditions for compliance which have not yet been analyzed by the city in detail, but which will include maintaining Portland’s existing watershed control and stewardship of the Bull Run and ongoing monitoring of the Bull Run water source for the pathogen Cryptosporidium. The federal Environmental Protection Agency will also have an opportunity to include conditions to Portland’s variance.
Extensive testing of the Bull Run source over the last two years has yielded zero detections of Cryptosporidium. The pathogen has not been detected in the source in over a decade.
OHA will be conducting a public hearing is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Dec. 14 in the Portland State Office Building, 800 N.E. Oregon St., Room 1B, to gather comments about the intent to grant the variance and its conditions.
The public comment period will close at 5 p.m. Jan. 3, 2012. After reviewing the comments a final order will be issued effective Jan. 31, 2012.
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Click here to read the release from Oregon Public Health announcing the decision.
Click here to read the complete "Intent to Grant Variance" document from the State of Oregon.
