PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Water Bureau says it tested 750 samples from Oregon’s largest drinking water source and has not found the potentially lethal parasite cryptosporidium.
The Oregonian reports the bureau plans to use the data to request a variance from a federal rule requiring it to build a $100 million treatment plant by 2014 to kill the parasite.
The city sampled 3,500 gallons over 12 months at the Bull Run reservoirs near Mount Hood, which serves nearly 900,000 customers in Portland and its suburbs.
Bureau administrator David Shaff says there’s a good case for getting a variance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
