Having just been fined $26,700 by DEQ, Oak Lodge Water Services General Manager Sarah Jo Chaplen said that the water authority has a “great relationship” with the state environmental regulator.
Chaplen explained that DEQ has been understanding about the authority’s aging infrastructure and its ongoing commitment to continue to tackle conditions that lead to the sewer overflows.
In January, DEQ approved an extra environmental project in lieu of part of the state’s fines related to OLWS overflow violations, so OLWS only had to pay $5,340 of the fine for raw sewage ending up in the river during recent heavy rains. OLWS’s remaining fine amount went to the North Clackamas Watershed Council’s environmental project to restore riparian shade and native vegetation in the Rinearson, Boardman and lower River Forest watersheds.
“The board is thoughtfully looking at the master plans of what is needed and determining the timelines in order to protect the environment,” Chaplen said.
DEQ will continue to make sure that OLWS keeps up its relationship with state regulators. A third type of treatment is needed at the wastewater plant to meet the conditions of DEQ’s latest permit. Tertiary treatment is a third level of treatment that makes the wastewater cleaning process more effective at removing inorganic materials before cleaned water is released to the environment.
During the construction phase of this multi-year project, the wastewater treatment plant will continue to operate. The plant operates 24/7 to treat 1.5 billion gallons of wastewater annually. Most similar facilities in the lower Willamette River basin already use tertiary treatment.
“Installing this third level of treatment while the wastewater treatment plant continues to operate is kind of like flying an airplane while making changes to the engine,” Chaplen said.
Most people don’t think about water districts as long as their faucets and toilets work, said Ginny Van Loo, an Oak Lodge Water Services board member who sees a critical period arriving for the water authority.
“We don’t have a choice whether to build, since we need to meet our DEQ permit,” Van Loo said.
According to the American Water Works Association’s 2022 state-of-the-industry report, the No. 1 challenge is renewal and replacement of aging water and wastewater infrastructure.
Chaplen agrees that the “replacement era” is upon OLWS, with most of its pipes in the final quarter of their lifespan. OLWS staff have laid out an ambitious set of $155 million in projects that are needed over the next 30 years.
“These are the kind of things that are not very exciting until they don’t work. Many people don’t understand, standing on the sidewalk, they think the pipe’s fine, because it’s underground and you can’t see it,” Chaplen said.
Gladstone also has faced fines from DEQ for raw sewage ending up in the river during storm events for the past several years. City Administrator Jacque Betz told Gladstone’s elected officials in December that the city has an agreement with DEQ to complete necessary infrastructure on certain timelines.
By 2025, Gladstone plans to spend about $2.2 million to address deficiencies in the city’s stormwater/sewage systems and $750,000 rehab on the Clackamas River pump station built in the 1970s. By the end of this year, Betz said that the city is hoping to finalize an intergovernmental agreement with OLWS to address pipe deficiencies in the overlap area along the borders of the two agencies.
Gladstone operates a separate sewer and water distribution systems, but a few hundred residents of the city rely on OLWS systems. For the past couple of years, Gladstone’s public works, administration and legal counsel have met with OLWS to discuss items that need to be addressed in a new 40-year agreement, which would replace numerous intergovernmental agreements and addendums currently in place for water and wastewater services.
“Both parties desire to build on their history of regional cooperation to ensure a cost-effective provision of safe and reliable utility services to present and future customers,” Betz said.
Betz estimated that the city will have to pay about $710,000 to deal with water/sewer lines in the overlap area from 2024-27. City councilors voted 5-1 to approve 4% utility rate increases to help cover the construction costs.
How will OLWS pay for new pipes needed in Oak Lodge? Chaplen said that the public is welcome to a series of budget meetings in April to prioritize projects, and the budget committee’s recommendation is expected to first come before the board in May.
“My sense is that the funding for this infrastructure will be a combination of grants and loans, but the bulk of our budget comes from rates,” she said.
As guiding documents that reassess priorities continually as needed by the system, OLWS’ wastewater and water master plans outline infrastructure priorities. The $13 million in projects for fiscal year 2025 includes the tertiary treatment project. As the wastewater master plan looks ahead to the future, $3 million is currently projected for ‘28.
Like Gladstone, OLWS is tackling infrastructure issues on both the water and wastewater systems. In January, OLWS replaced an estimated 60-year-old watermain at Southeast Aldercrest and Oatfield roads. Nearly $1.7 million for the project came out of a fund saved from customers’ rate dollars.
OLWS and Gladstone’s wastewater systems are both dealing with unwanted inflow of water into a wastewater collection system, and the infiltration of groundwater into the system through cracks or defects in the pipes or manholes. With only so much water that the treatment plant can clean, inflow and infiltration can cause the system to become overloaded and lead to problems such as wastewater backups and overflows.
Wastewater treatment plants are having to clean a lot more water than is being flushed, increasing the amount of costly treatment required at regional wastewater treatment plants. This is one of the reasons why the authority can’t just wait until the pipes completely break before repairing them.
Chaplen likens the decision before the board as a similar question that faces homeowners on an annual basis: Do I repair my home’s roof now or risk more expensive repairs next year?
“It is very similar to a house, if you’d don’t repair any plumbing leaks, don’t paint the house and put on any new roofing, it’s going to degrade,” she said.
Chaplen is encouraging the authority to make an investment in the community’s infrastructure soon because “this benefits the community and the environment now and will be passed on to the next generation.”
You can meet with OLWS officials at their community pop-up event from 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11 for National Latte Day at Awakening Coffee, 2144 S.E. Oak Grove Blvd., where the district is offering free lattes for those who participate, saying you can’t have coffee without water.
The OLWS board will review the wastewater master plan at the 6 p.m. board meeting on Tuesday, Feb 21, at 14496 S.E. River Road. You can join the meeting in-person or via Zoom visit OakLodgeWaterService.org for more information.