Portland switches to emergency water supply

PORTLAND — Portland is using its emergency water supply system rather than the Bull Run watershed after a toppled tree damaged a treatment plant east of the city.

The Portland Water Bureau said it began using safe-to-drink groundwater from the Columbia South Shore Well Field on Monday, when a windstorm sent a tall evergreen crashing into the bureau’s Lusted Hill facility in Gresham, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The impact battered the roof and interior of the building and broke the facility’s corrosion treatment equipment, said bureau spokeswoman Jaymee Cuti.

Cuti was unable to say how much it would cost to fix the damage and didn’t know when they would switch back over to Portland’s primary water supply, which is drawn from Bull Run Lake near Mt. Hood.

The city has switched to water from the Columbia South Shore Well Field 43 times since 1985, Willamette Week reported Monday. Water officials said climate change will likely increase Portland’s reliance on its emergency water supply system.

“We can expect more extreme weather events like the recent rains that have impacted the region,” bureau director Gabriel Solmer said in a statement. “Groundwater allows us to reliably provide water to people when severe storms impact the Bull Run watershed or we have other supply disruptions.”