Clean Water Services is the

water resources Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; sligh ...

management utility for more than 600,000 residents in urban

Washington County, Oregon Washington County is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon and part of the Portland metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded the population as 600,372, making it the second most populous county in the state and most populous "Wa ...

and small portions of

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland– Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

and

Clackamas County, Oregon Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Native ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment facilities, constructs and maintains flood management and water quality projects, and manages flow into the

Tualatin River The Tualatin River is a tributary of the Willamette River in Oregon in the United States. The river is about long, and it drains a fertile farming region called the Tualatin Valley southwest and west of Portland at the northwest corner of the Wi ...

to improve water quality and protect fish habitat. They are headquartered in Hillsboro.Much, Justin. Farmers and neighbors debate use of biosolids. ''

Statesman Journal The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...

'', November 7, 2007.

History

In 1969, Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality placed a temporary halt to new construction in Washington County.Tsao, Emily. Skate park search uncovers plans for sewage ponds. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', October 24, 2007. 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.CWS' Durham facility celebrates 30 years of treatment operation. ''The Tualatin Times'', December 28, 2006 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 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

, prompting

Total maximum daily load A total maximum daily load (TMDL) is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water qual ...

s for the Tualatin River. A

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

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. In July 2001, the Unified Sewerage Agency renamed itself as Clean Water Services at a cost of $60,000.Highlights, lowlights and other dubious achievements of the year 2001. ''

'', December 27, 2001. Clean Water Services' Operations Building opened in 2003, which is used as a showcase of low impact development. The same year, the Administrative Building Complex opened. It was the first LEED Gold certified public building in Washington County. In 2004, the agency began a program to add shade along the watershed's streams and river by planting trees and shrubs to lower temperatures of the waterways.Arrandale, Tom. Trading for clean water. ''Governing Magazine'', April 2004. Pg. 32. This program received approval from environmental regulators and was in lieu of spending $150 million to build chilling systems at the four treatment facilities. The agency's Rock Creek facility won an EPA National Clean Water Act Recognition Award in 2006, and in 2008 the Durham facility's Influent Pump Station was the first to earn LEED Silver certification. The following year the Durham plant became the United States' first wastewater treatment plant to produce commercial fertilizer. In 2010, the Clean Water Institute was established by the agency.

Services

Clean Water Services provides stormwater and wastewater services in partnership with 12 member cities that include; Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Hillsboro, King City,

Forest Grove A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia * Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality * Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district fr ...

Cornelius Cornelius may refer to: People * Cornelius (name), Roman family name and a masculine given name * Pope Cornelius, pope from AD 251 to 253 * St. Cornelius (disambiguation), multiple saints * Cornelius (musician), stage name of Keigo Oyamada * Metro ...

Banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, and North Plains. Clean Water Services is a special service district that serves as a separately managed and financed public utility. Th
Washington County Commissioners
serve as the board of directors for Clean Water Services. As a wastewater utility, Clean Water Services cleans more than of wastewater a day. The watewater treatment process uses physical, biological, and chemical treatment to clean wastewater to some of the highest standards in the nation. The cleaned wastewater is then released into the Tualatin River.Griffin, Jeff. Overcoming pipebursting challenges--on time, under budget; Rehabilitation TECHNOLOGY. ''Underground Construction'', February 1, 2007. Pg. 49(2) Vol. 62 No. 2 . The wastewater is collected by a vast network of more than of sewer lines and 39 pump stations and routed to one of four treatment plants—Durham, Rock Creek, Hillsboro and Forest Grove. Ten percent of the wastewater treated by Clean Water Services is used for irrigation and in area wetlands during the summer months.

Biosolids Biosolids are solid organic matter recovered from a sewage treatment process and used as fertilizer. In the past, it was common for farmers to use animal manure to improve their soil fertility. In the 1920s, the farming community began also to use ...

recovered through the treatment process are sold to farmers in the region as fertilizer. Additionally, th
Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility
is the first in the nation to recover fertilizer from a natural byproduct of wastewater treatment. In 2007 the Durham facility began working wit
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies
to construct a $2.5 million multi-reactor plant that allows the Durham facility to run part of its waste stream through special reactors that transform potentially damaging nutrients into environmentally friendly fertilizer, which Ostara sells commercially. As a surface water management utility, The District's Stormwater Management (SWM) program improves water quality, protects fish habitat and manages drainage by operating and maintaining the stormwater conveyance system, establishing design and construction standards, regulating activities that can impact the watershed and enhancing streams and floodplains. Clean Water Services is the regional SWM utility for urban Washington County. In cooperation with Washington County and the 12 member cities Clean Water Services maintains and enhances the public drainage system to meet public needs and to comply with strict water quality regulations set for the Tualatin River drainage area by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Clean Water Services offers a classroom educational program calle
River Rangers
geared toward 4th-grade students. Environmental educators interactively teach students about the

water cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...

, watersheds, surface water pollution, water conservation and wastewater treatment. The 45-minute presentation is used to educate students about how people impact water quality through use of sewer and storm systems.

Tualatin River

The -long

meanders slowly through relatively flat terrain, draining more than of forested, agricultural and urban areas before joining the Willamette River.Gorman, Kathleen. Tualatin River treated with tradeoff. ''

'', October 12, 2007. The Tualatin is Washington County's only river, and it is used for the regional drinking water supply, agricultural irrigation, and recreational activities. Clean Water Services has worked to protect the health of the watershed through programs such as the planting of trees and shrubs along the water corridors.

Water supply

As communities in th
Tualatin Basin
continue to grow, more water will be needed for municipal and industrial uses.Gorman, Kathy. Washington County: Water partners wonder how to increase supply. ''

'', June 7, 2007. In addition, more water is needed to augment flow in the Tualatin River and its tributaries for water quality. The two water supply options being considered assume aggressive conservation targets for homes and businesses, waste

water reuse Water reclamation (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling) is the process of converting municipal wastewater (sewage) or industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. Types of reuse include: ...

, and aquifer storage and recovery. These options are:Carr, Housley. Population Growth Drives Rising Tide Of Water and Wastewater Projects; Utility owners look to alternative supply methods in some regions. ''Engineering News-Record'', November 27, 2006. SourceBook: Water/Wastewater; Pg. 44 Vol. 257 No. 21. * A dam raise at

Henry Hagg Lake Henry Hagg Lake (also known simply as Hagg Lake) is an artificial lake in northwest Oregon, in the United States. The reservoir is an impoundment of Scoggins Creek, which drains a small portion of the eastern side of the Northern Oregon Coast ...

with a raw water pipeline pumpback. * A multiple source option that includes a dam raise at Hagg Lake with a raw water pipeline pumpback and expansion of the Willamette River Water Treatment Plant for municipal uses.

References

External links

Washington County Commissioners

Tualatin Basin Water Supply

Tualatin River Watershed Council

Tualatin Times

{{Coord, 45.501625, -122.989712, region:US, format=dms, display=title Water management authorities in the United States Multnomah County, Oregon Washington County, Oregon Clackamas County, Oregon Hillsboro, Oregon Local government in Oregon 1970 establishments in Oregon Government agencies established in 1970