FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

City Council to Vote on Future of Portland Water

Citizens and businesses called to testify for pure, clean and affordable water

Community aligns in opposition to additional and costly Bull Run water treatment.

Meeting Details:
Where: City Hall, Council Chambers 120 SW 5th or Main & 5th  (enter on 4th)
When:  Wednesday AM July 29, 2009 (anytime after 9:30 AM)
What:  The fate of Portland’s world-renowned water supply

The Portland City Council will vote Wednesday morning on a Bull Run chemical treatment plan that could forever alter the nature of Portland's drinking water and undercut historic protections that generations of citizens fought to secure.

“Portland residents must rally on behalf of our precious Bull Run water and testify on Wednesday for our green, sustainable water system,” stated Regna Merritt, Executive Director of Oregon Wild and longtime champion of Bull Run protections. “We oppose the Water Bureau resolution before Council. The Water Bureau’s proposal for expensive chemical filtration will force measures that are unnecessary, wasteful, and will degrade our water and watershed.”

Catherine Thomasson, MD, representing Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility added: “According to public health officials, there will be no measurable public health benefit from new treatments required by the EPA to address cryptosporidium. We support Senator Merkley, others in the congressional delegation, and the City of Portland in full-on efforts to secure a variance. We must pursue each alternative compliance strategy in the short and long term.”

Recent advocacy by Widmer Brothers Brewery has enhanced efforts of many organizations and businesses to educate Portland residents about the impending Council vote and what is at stake. The Widmer Brothers Brewery and Craft Brewers Alliance oppose changing the current minimal treatment of Bull Run water, the centerpiece of the brewery renaissance that has put Portland on the map. “It’s not what’s wrong with Portland tap water, it’s what’s right with it,” said Sebastian Pastore, VP of Brewing Operations.

“There will be no measurable public health benefit from the onerous and unsupported EPA LT2 requirements,” added Friends of the Reservoir’s Floy Jones, champion for protection of the historic Bull Run system. “Corporations will benefit and the community will pay if we don’t take action today.”

Business leaders are also very concerned. Dan Bourbonais, General Manager of Alsco – American Linen, an employer of 220 people doing business in Portland for over 50 years, worries what added water costs from chemical treatment will mean for local businesses.

“I strongly urge the City Council to pursue all measures, including legislation, to protect Portland from this cookie-cutter national rule,” said Bourbonais. “Our protected water supply is one of the purist in the world. We don’t want to pay for an additional layer of protection to solve a problem that does not exist in Portland. Rate increases related to chemical filtration are the most extreme of all possible alternatives.  This will immediately strain the viability of conducting business in the city, especially at this time of economic uncertainty.”

BACKGROUND:

Twenty per cent of all Oregonians drink excellent water that originates in the Bull Run forest, protected for over one century from human entry and domestic animals that could pollute or harm our water.  Portland water is minimally treated and then delivered safely to homes and businesses. Unique protections from human and cattle entry are the main reason that there has never been any cryptosporidium-related illness originating from Bull Run water.

In 1996 and 2001, federal legislation passed that further safeguarded the Bull Run, located in the Mt. Hood National Forest, from pollution caused by logging. These protections have kept Portland’s drinking water clean, pure, and affordable.

The Long Term 2 (LT2) Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2006, is a “one-size-fits-all” approach to managing municipal drinking water across the nation. It is a "cookie-cutter" regulation intended to protect consumers who drink from dirty watersheds with human sewage and cow waste.

The Portland City Council committed in January 2005 to pursue alternative forms of compliance for the LT2 rule. The Council has thus far supported a three track approach towards compliance with this rule, including two forms of alternative compliance (a legislative strategy and an administrative EPA strategy), plus a traditional compliance strategy (building a plant for additional treatment of pure Bull Run water.)

 The resolution proposed by Commissioner Leonard and the Water Bureau would, if passed by Council:

1. eliminate any possibility of legislative relief, now and in the future;
2. select direct filtration as the preferred alternative for traditional compliance;
3. begin design and construction on direct filtration, the most expensive and chemical-intensive alternative; and
4. give the Water Bureau total control over the final decision about whether and when to start building the filtration plant.
5. Find more details about the LT2 Rule and the Bull Run Watershed here.

Contacts:
Regna Merritt, Executive Director, Oregon Wild: 503.283.6343 ext 214
Catharine Thomasson, MD, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility: 503.819.1170
Sebastian Pastore, Widmer Brothers Brewing: 503.331.7277

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