Bull Run Watershed’s billion-dollar purification project faces opposition from landowners
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A seven-year project to purify water in Portland is finally set to break ground.
Since 2017, the Bull Run Watershed has routinely tested positive for dangerous parasites – prompting the water bureau to build a new filtration facility near Boring, Ore.
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But the project remains controversial as local leaders were recently forced to consider the option of taking private land . The city maintains the site is necessary to protect public health and meet federal regulations, but the landowners like Jim Ekstrom say they feel discouraged.
Construction on the $1.8 billion project is set to begin this year. Ekstrom said the site could impact acres of quality farmland near Troutdale that he and his wife have owned for nearly seven years.
“Quite a devastating thing for a farm. We’re kind of stuck,” Ekstrom said.
Meanwhile, the water bureau told KOIN 6 News the city must have the filtration system running by September 2027 to be in compliance with the Oregon Health Authority.
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“Filtration is a critical tool that will help a water bureau bring and to deliver clean and safe drinking water to our customers and the community for now, into the future,” Chief Engineer Jodie Inman said.
In addition to improving water quality after storms and wildfires, they say the plant will rid the watershed of cryptosporidium – a parasite transmitted through animal feces that can cause serious, if not deadly, illness.
“Filtration is more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if,’” Inman said. “We’re going to have to build it.”
The bureau says the plant is being built on their land but easements and pipes will impact at least six private properties like Ekstrom, who doesn’t want to sell.
But landowners like him won’t have a choice if the city takes the land through eminent domain, which was discussed at a city council meeting this week.
“If they do eminent domain, you have no rights,” Ekstrom said. “You’re stuck with whatever they say and the only thing you possibly might be able to do is negotiate a little more payment. But if they don’t want to give it to you, they don’t have to.”
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Ekstrom said the current plans will disrupt roughly four acres of land – taking nearly 38,000 crops out of production.
“It’s in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and on a four-year term, it’s a million dollars,” he said. “Everybody out here has no desire for it, and you know it’s the wrong place, because it’s some of the finest farmland in Multnomah County.”
Inman said the City hopes to reach agreements without the use of eminent domain and is committed to holding the line on the forecasted rate increases for customers of 8.1% over the next four years.
Still, she said the bureau recognizes the possible impact on the community, especially during construction.
“However, we did spend a lot of time working with the community, working with the counties to find ways to try to minimize and mitigate those impacts to the maximum degree,” she said.
Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops.
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