FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Clean Water Advocates, City to Host Public Meeting on Future of Portland Water

Discussion centered on federal LT2 rule and threats to Bull Run system

Community leaders and city officials work to find solutions to new federal regulations that would put the Bull Run system at risk.

Oregon Wild and Friends of the Reservoir will co-present with Commissioner Randy Leonard at a Saturday morning meeting hosted by the Mt. Tabor, South Tabor and Arlington Heights Neighborhood Associations. The presentation will address new threats to pure Bull Run water and what Portland residents can do about it. The public is encouraged to attend, to ask questions and to offer brief testimony. Portland's congressional representatives and staff have been invited to attend the meeting.

“Portland residents need to understand what LT2 means for our drinking water,” stated longtime champion of protections for the Bull Run, Oregon Wild Executive Director, Regna Merritt. “This rule would force Portland to take measures that are unnecessary, wasteful, and have the potential to degrade our water.”

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. The LT2 rule requires expensive treatment for all unfiltered water systems, regardless of the unique protections of the individual watersheds.

The Bull Run Watershed, located in the Mount Hood National Forest, provides some of the best drinking water in the world for the city of Portland and surrounding communities. For over a century the watershed has enjoyed unique protections from harmful human activities. In 1996 and 2001, federal legislation was passed that further safeguarded the area from pollution caused by logging. These protections have kept Portland’s drinking water clean, pure, and affordable.

“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 quickly secure federal legislation to protect our Bull Run water. Protective legislation must be introduced now and we urge the city council to do all it can to ensure passage of that legislation.”

The Portland City Council committed in January 2005 to pursue alternative forms of compliance for the LT2 rule. Commissioner Leonard will detail the strategies the City is pursuing to comply with the new regulations, including obtaining a variance and asking the city's Congressional delegation to introduce and seek passage of federal legislation allowing Portland to continue to use its Bull Run source water without additional treatment and continue to use its five open finished drinking water reservoirs for drinking water storage.

Business leaders are also jumping into the discussion. 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 could mean for local businesses.

“I strongly urge the City Council and the congressional delegation to pursue federal 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 this new rule will put a strain on the viability of conducting business in the city, especially at this time of economic uncertainty.”

LT2 Meeting Details
What: Public Meeting--New Threats to Bull Run Drinking Water
When: April 11, 2009 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Where: Glencoe Elementary School (Cafeteria) 825 SE 51st Avenue, Portland, OR

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