What We Do
The Bureau of Environmental Services is one of the largest bureaus in the City of Portland. We are responsible for planning, operating, maintaining, and improving all aspects of the city’s wastewater and stormwater systems. We also restore streams and watersheds to protect water quality, public health, and the environment.
Ratepayers fund Environmental Services work with most of our funding coming from monthly combined sewer and stormwater bills. Environmental Services also receives funding from system development charges, connection charges, and various permit fees.
We have completed major improvements in recent decades, such as the Big Pipe Project that protects the Willamette River and Columbia Slough from combined sewer overflows. But we have also re-imagined ourselves, shifting from a traditional sewer utility to a service-oriented bureau that implements innovative, cost-effective, green solutions like trees, green street planters, and restored natural areas to help protect water quality and public health.
Together with Portland residents and businesses, we are adding nature to the City to improve public health, meet our climate challenge, and benefit all Portlanders.
Strategic Plan
In 2017, we charted a new direction for Environmental Services. Our 10-year strategic plan:
- Will help us work together as a unified organization delivering high-quality services to the community.
- Reinforces our commitment to cost-effective, green infrastructure solutions.
- Includes our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in how we work together and how we deliver services.
- Puts us on a path to becoming a fully sustainable utility in 10 years to meet the needs of current customers and future generations.
Read more about our plans to protect public health, our community, and our environment in our 10-Year Strategic Plan:
Our Equity Commitment
Our Work Culture
Environmental Services intentionally builds and nurtures a safe and inclusive environment in which employees are able to bring their true selves to work.
Our Community
We are committed to engaging with our community in an accessible and thoughtful way to deliver services that benefit all Portlanders, especially Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) who have experienced historical inequities. Together with our BIPOC community partners, we commit to working proactively to correct those imbalances and put an end to systemic racism.
Our Employees
Every bureau employee is responsible for advancing equity in our workplace culture and service delivery.
Mission, Vision, Values
Our Mission
Environmental Services manages Portland’s wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to protect public health and the environment.
Our Vision
We are a mission-driven, high-performance organization, leading the City in preserving and restoring the health of Portland’s watersheds.
Our Values
- Our customers and partners
- Portlanders’ sense of connection to their waterways
- Conscientious stewardship of our watersheds, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and financial resources
- A diverse, collaborative, healthy, and engaged workforce
- Leadership among our employees and in our City and community
- Equity in our workplace, business practices, and service delivery
- Clear communication and transparency
- Innovative, sustainable, and resilient solutions
Our Budget
Environmental Services' current budget can be found in the City's adopted budget for FY 2023-24.
The Budget Process
Environmental Services develops a requested budget annually based on guidance from City Council and specific instructions from the City Budget Office. Requested budgets for the upcoming fiscal year are typically submitted in January. After we submit our requested budget, it is followed by Council work sessions and public forums before the Mayor releases a proposed budget, typically in April or May. City Council then adopts the final City budget in June.
24-Hour Emergency Hotlines
Call 503-823-1700 to report sewer problems, including:
- Sewer odors
- Clogged storm drains
- Blocked green street planter inlets
- Flooding
- Emergency street maintenance
- Road hazard issues
You can also report sewer odors online:
Call 503-823-7180 to report hazardous or potential pollution issues, such as:
- Slicks or spills
- Suspicious discharges in waterways
- Dumping of substances into storm drains
It is bureau policy to keep caller identity information confidential.
You can also report pollution issues online:
Media Inquiries
Contact Diane Dulken at 503-457-7636 or diane.dulken@portlandoregon.gov
Our Leadership
Dawn Uchiyama, Director
Dawn Uchiyama became the Director of Environmental Services in March 2023 after serving as the Interim Director for ten months and having worked for the bureau since 2001. She serves on the City of Portland’s Executive Leadership Team and is responsible for establishing the strategic direction, mission, and operations of Environmental Services.
Over the course of her 30-year career in public service, Dawn has driven and implemented a wide variety of strategic watershed, stormwater system, and green infrastructure efforts with a clear focus on shared ownership in organizational development, improved service delivery, and system-wide solutions.
With focus and compassion, Dawn leads collaboratively and empowers others to achieve their highest purpose with awareness and integrity. In 2020, the American Society of Landscape Architects named her an ASLA Fellow for her exceptional contributions to leadership and management in government and society. In 2021, she was awarded the Council of Foreign Relations Hitachi Fellowship and spent one year in Japan studying emerging ideas relating to leadership development and green climate recovery.
Dawn is a licensed landscape architect in Oregon and an ICF-certified professional coach. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois Chicago and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois-Urbana.
Contact Dawn:
dawn.uchiyama@portlandoregon.gov
Director's Quarterly Calendars
Dawn Uchiyama's Quarterly Calendars
Former Director Michael Jordan's Quarterly Calendars
Ting Lu, Deputy Director
Ting joined Environmental Services in 2023. Ting has diverse technical, management, and business skills, including co-creating visions, developing business and organization strategies, fostering innovation, building high-performing teams, and driving digital transformation. Ting is dedicated to learning and teaching for continuous improvement and growth. Ting is focused on moving Environmental Services’ strategic priorities forward, including increasing investments in our people and assets, strengthening business practices and processes, and focusing on the Bureau’s professional and leadership development.
Previously, Ting has served in various positions at Clean Water Services, including principal engineer, regulatory affairs; digital solutions; business practice leader, research and innovation. Before Clean Water Services, Ting worked for Black & Veatch and held roles in business development, project and program management, and engineering design. Ting was also with the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati for three years, performing multiple roles there, including capital improvement program manager and planner, process engineer for process improvement and troubleshooting, research manager for technology evaluation, and strategic planning. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati.
Contact Ting Lu
ting.lu@portlandoregon.gov