Last month the Portland Water Bureau released the latest Drinking Water Quality Report, which explains what’s in your water and how we keep it safe and flowing from our two sources, the Bull Run Watershed and the Columbia South Shore Well Field, to your tap. The report compiles extensive data about the system that delivers more than 30 billion gallons of water through about 2,250 miles of pipes to almost 1 million people, clean and safe. That’s where field testers like Thomas Krause come in. Krause and the water quality team perform more than 11,000 tests per year to track over 200 potential contaminants in your drinking water. The results speak for themselves — Portland's water is something we can all be proud of.
What do field testers do, exactly? Portland has over 270 sampling stations throughout the distribution system. We go to the stations, collect the samples and generate the field data. We bring that back to the lab, where we run more tests. Basically we turn water into data.
What are you looking for? We collect data like pH, conductivity , chlorine, turbidity, total coliform bacteria—
Wait, I don’t know what any of that stuff is. What is turbidity? Turbidity is the clarity of the water.
Does that affect people’s health? No, it doesn’t. It’s more an aesthetic issue. It’s when your water looks cloudy, or even milky. Turbidity can be caused by sediment in the water. It’s also caused when cold water comes into a warm structure. The cold water carries more dissolved oxygen. When it warms up, it releases the oxygen. Those tiny bubbles give it that cloudy look. They dissipate after a few seconds.
What was the other thing you said? Conductivity? What is that? Conductivity is the ability for water to pass an electrical current. That measures the mineral content in water. Most of the time, our system draws from Bull Run. Bull Run is surface water, and it's ultra-pure—there's not a lot of minerals, so the conductivity is very low. But sometimes we draw water from underground aquifers. That water has more mineral content, since it’s surrounded by rock. It absorbs those minerals and that water can pass an electric current better. So when we turn on groundwater, we can see how it’s moving through the system by measuring conductivity.
What about total coliform? Everything is covered in coliforms. They’re bacteria. They’re on your body, inside and out. Most of them are not bad. But they include E. coli—that’s the one that makes you sick. When we test for total coliform, it includes everything. If you test it and there's no coliforms present, that means there's no E. coli. However, if you test it and you get a TC positive, there's coliforms present. We do a further test to make sure that it's not E. coli.
How did you get into this line of work? After I graduated high school, I spent about 10 years playing bass guitar in punk rock bands. Toured the country, went to all 50 states. Then came a time when I was ready for a change. So I went to Portland Community College to figure out what I wanted to do next. I was taking the general classes. I'd always been interested in science and being outdoors. I kind of homed in on environmental science. I graduated from PCC and transferred to Portland State University where I eventually graduated with a bachelor's in environmental science.
From punk rock to environmental science? I wasn't expecting that. Let me tell you, being in a DIY punk band is not easy. I learned a lot. I learned how to collaborate with people and communicate with people. And I developed a work ethic because you’ve got to work to make things happen. And I was able to take that and apply it to my professional career. I'm still at it.
How has this job changed the way you think about water? I’ve lived in the Portland area my whole life, and I never thought twice about water. I never had to because our water is dependable. I joined the water bureau ten years ago. Since then I’ve learned about our distribution system, and our treatment system, and our maintenance system. It takes an incredible amount of work to produce this water. It's something I'm proud of. I'm happy to be a part of it.
What do you like about the job? One, the people I work with are tops. They’re great.
Two, I love the public health aspect. I want to have a job where I make things better for people. It's really important for me to feel like I'm making a difference in people's lives and making sure the public can stay healthy. Three, I love Portland. I want to make Portland a better place and I feel like this job has helped me be able to fulfill that.
What do you like most about Portland? I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years now, and there's vegetarian and vegan food everywhere. Fantastic record shops. It's Soccer City USA, as well. Timbers, Thorns, Bangers – it’s great! I love being outdoors. I love the rivers and the lakes and the mountains and the beach. I love the high desert. Like I said before, I've been to all 50 states and two territories. And whenever people ask me which one's my favorite, I always say Oregon. It's a beautiful state.