News and notices

The Portland Water Bureau monitors weather, water levels, and water use to ensure our customers have access to plenty of safe, clean drinking water all year. Thanks to careful planning and investment in two high-quality water sources, we’ll continue to meet our community’s needs for decades to come.

The Bull Run supply was temporarily augmented with groundwater to ensure ample water supply during conduit repair.

Groundwater will be used to ensure ample supply of drinking water during conduit repair. No action is needed by the public. The community's water supply remains safe to drink.

In 2025, the Portland Water Bureau won a Drinking Water Source Protection Award from the State of Oregon. While it’s no skeleton (yes, that’s a real Olympic event), we’d argue that source water protection is as hard as any Olympic event. Don’t believe us? We brought receipts.

Heavy rains caused a rapid increase in turbidity (organic material in the water) in the Bull Run Watershed. A return to more seasonal weather has allowed the turbidity to settle, allowing us to resume serving water from our primary water source, the Bull Run Watershed.

Heavy rains caused a rapid increase in turbidity (organic material in the water) in the Bull Run Watershed. The Portland Water Bureau is temporarily serving 100 percent groundwater. The new filtration facility will reduce impacts of storm runoff in the future.

The future Bull Run filtration facility will eliminate one annual tradition for Portlanders: a harmless seasonal change in the appearance of our drinking water.

Secondary groundwater source provided supplemental water supply during a dry summer

On August 24, 2023, a lightning strike sparked a wildfire in the Bull Run Watershed, Portland's primary drinking water source. Two years later, the fire reminds us that we must continuing investing in a resilient water system.