The Portland Water Bureau maintains the city’s water system, which delivers an average of 95 million gallons of water to nearly one million people, every day of the year. But like any human activity, the system is also responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming — about 8,000 tons of CO2 equivalent last year. We caught up with climate analyst Elise Guinee-Cooper, one of 600 employees at the Water Bureau who take care of the critical infrastructure and natural resources that deliver water from the forest to your faucet. She’s helping the City make our water supply greener — and bluer.
What does a climate analyst do? I was hired to help the Water Bureau develop their first Net Zero strategy. The Water Bureau has been working on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions for a long time, so this work isn't new. But having a strategy on how we're going to get to zero by the year 2050 — that is the new part.
What is Net Zero? Net Zero basically means that all the greenhouse gas emissions that we are putting into the atmosphere are balanced with all the ones that are being sucked out of the atmosphere — mostly by plants. So as long as what's going out and what's coming in is equal, then we're in balance; climate change is not accelerating. But if we keep putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than the natural world can reabsorb them, that's where we're getting into trouble.
How can the water bureau help with that? We use a lot of electricity to pump water. Most of our system is fed by gravity, but sometimes we have to pump it uphill. And occasionally we have to pump groundwater when we don't have enough water from Bull Run during the summer or when other events prevent Bull Run water from being used. We also have buildings and trucks and the new filtration plant we’re building. So we’re constantly looking for ways to reduce electricity consumption. And reduce leaks. We lose about 15% of our water due to leaks and we estimate that that accounts for about 8% of our total emissions.
Wait, water leaks contribute to global warming? We treat our water for public health, and that treatment takeselectricity to produce. And if we have to pump that water anywhere, that takes electricity. So not only is the water being wasted, but all the energy that it consumed is also wasted. Not to mention the damage that a leak can cause
All that water... can’t you use it to generate electricity? Yes! We’ve got two dams at the Bull Run reservoir that have been generating hydroelectric power since 1981. They generate about 82,000 megawatt hours a year, which is enough for about 10,000 homes. We also have a micro-hydro turbine at Sabin Hydropark and we're building another at Washington Park.
Why is this important? The way I think of it is this. You wouldn't throw a water bottle into a river even if you know that your one water bottle probably isn't going to make the difference that kills the ocean. But you know that if everyone is throwing their water bottles at the river, that there are going to be consequences. So you take personal responsibility, and you don't throw your water bottle in the river. Reaching net zero is a very similar concept. If we don't step up and take responsibility for our emissions, and everyone else also doesn't step up and take responsibility for their emissions, we know where we're headed. And we know it's not a good place. It's not a planet that we want to pass on to our children. So we're taking responsibility for what we can, and we are asking others and inspiring others to do the same. We’re going to fight like hell for the world that we want.
What do you like about your job? First off, I am constantly impressed with the people who I work with at the Water Bureau. At the end of the day, everyone is committed to delivering great water for Portland, both now and into the future. I like being a part of an organization where I believe in the mission. It's an inspiring way to see how government works, even if it can sometimes be frustrating as well.
How did you get into this type of work? In college I studied human-centered design, which emphasizes talking to end users and deeply understanding what their needs are in order to inform design. In grad school, I studied environmental management, which included policy and economics. In my twenties I worked in international development, water and sanitation work in communities without access to sewers. That work included making container-based toilets in Kenya and working with the World Agroforestry Center in Uganda.
Was climate change a big issue there? One of the experiences that will always stick with me is when I was working in a refugee settlement in Uganda. We went to a talk about climate change being hosted by one of the local NGOs. Almost none of the refugees living in this settlement have cars, very few have electricity outside of solar lamps. They are not contributing to climate change in any meaningful way. They do cut down trees to build homes and for use as wood fuel, but they’re doing what they have to in order to survive, and their lifestyles are magnitudes more sustainable than ours. At the end of the talk, numerous people stood up and they were like, ‘This problem matters. And I'm going to do my best to make a difference. I'm going to start planting trees.” They talked about what they were going to do to help address this problem. And with so much more resolve than I've seen from people who have so much more responsibility. I was both inspired and ashamed. And I really felt the weight of the responsibility that we bear for our contribution to climate change in the United States, and how it affects people around the world.
What about some things you like about Portland? I was born and raised in Portland. I went to Richmond Elementary, Mount Tabor Middle School, then Jesuit High School for three years, and then Portland Community College for my senior year of high school. I live pretty close to Mount Tabor and I love the Mount Tabor reservoirs. I play pick up soccer. I coach soccer. I go dancing. There are so many people who are doing interesting, fun things with their life and who care about their impact on the broader world and community. Yeah, I’ve got lots of love for this city.
Check out the great video of Elise talking about Net Zero and the Portland Water Bureau.
Check out a dashboard of the Portland Water Bureau’s greenhouse gas emissions.