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The Portland Water Bureau is building a new filtration facility and pipelines to protect public health and comply with federal and state safe drinking water regulations. These improvements to the Bull Run water system will help keep our water safe and abundant for generations to come.
Filtration benefits
We're building a new drinking water filtration facility and pipelines to keep our water safe and abundant for the roughly 840,000 people who depend on it today and for future generations. Bull Run Filtration is needed to comply with federal and state safe drinking water regulations and remove the disease-causing microorganism Cryptosporidium from our water supply.
Bull Run Filtration will benefit:
- Our health: using proven treatment methods to deliver clean, safe drinking water to customers.
- Our economy: creating jobs building water infrastructure vital to local businesses, industry, and residents.
- Our future: enhancing our water system's resilience, reducing future risks, and better protecting customers.
Project overview
The improvements we're building will use filtration treatment to protect public health and remove sediment, organic material, and other potential contaminants from Bull Run water, providing consistent high-quality drinking water and making our water system more reliable.
The project includes a new water filtration facility designed to filter 135 million gallons of water per day. We're also designing new seismically resilient pipelines to connect the facility to our existing water system and retire aging segments of existing pipeline.
Construction includes installation of:
- 5,500+ linear feet of 72-inch-diameter pipeline
- 10,000+ linear feet of 66-inch-diameter pipeline
- 4,700 linear feet of 60-inch-diameter pipeline
- 80 linear feet of 52-inch-diameter pipeline
- 4,000+ linear feet of 42-inch-diameter pipelines
- 300 linear feet of 36- to 66-inch-diameter pipeline
- nearly 3,000 linear feet of 12-inch-diameter pipeline
- 4,100+ linear feet of 6- to 8-inch-diameter pipeline
Project timeline
The City of Portland's Bilateral Compliance Agreement with the Oregon Health Authority requires us to begin delivering filtered water by September 30, 2029. We met the first two compliance milestones and are working toward our final compliance deadline.
- November 30, 2020 (completed): submitted pilot study and preliminary planning
- October 31, 2022 (completed): submitted final construction plans and construction schedule
- September 30, 2029 (underway): water being served meets all surface water and Cryptosporidium treatment requirements
It takes about 10 years to plan, design, and build a project of this size. We've completed the planning and design phases of the project and are well underway with construction.
Monthly project status updates
Current construction work
We started construction in 2024 and are working to deliver filtered Bull Run water beginning in 2029. The construction contracts include strong participation by equity contractors as well as commitments to diverse workforces.
Key construction milestones include:
- 2023: We received approval of the first set of guaranteed maximum price agreements that allowed early work to begin, including ordering long-lead materials.
- June 2024: We started the first phase of construction at the facility site, including mass excavation and grading.
- December 2024: We started the second phase of construction at the facility site, including concrete work for the treatment basins and critical structures.
- January 2025: The Land Use Board of Appeals sent one item from our land use permit back to Multnomah County. We had to pause construction during that period.
- June 2025: Multnomah Country reapproved our land use permit.
- July 2025: We restarted construction work.
Completed planning and design work
Planning (2018-2020)
We completed two years of planning work and community engagement to guide design of the water filtration facility and pipelines.
Key planning milestones include:
- In 2018, Portland City Council identified the facility location and size, and the filtration technology best-suited for Portland's drinking water.
- In 2019, following those initial Council decisions, we completed extensive planning and engineering analysis to guide design of the facility and pipelines. This work is documented in the Project Definition Report.
- In November 2019, City Council approved Resolution 37460 which set priority values and expectations to guide project design and implementation.
- In October 2020, we identified preferred routes for new pipelines to connect the facility to the existing water system.
Design (2020-2023)
We designed the new water filtration facility and pipelines to be key components of a resilient water system. This includes a multi-barrier filtration treatment process to better protect against water quality risks from a fire or other natural disaster.
Filtration treatment will:
- Remove Cryptosporidium and other potential disease-causing microorganisms from the Bull Run supply.
- Help address turbidity (suspended sediment in water) and other potential impacts to the water supply that could result from a fire, landslide, or other natural disaster.
- Reduce regulated compounds that can cause cancer (disinfection byproducts) by removing organics in the water.
Key design milestones include:
- In July 2021, we completed the first design milestone for the water filtration facility: The Filtration Facility Basis of Design Report. The report described preliminary design of the facility, established water quality and level of service goals, and provided detailed narratives for each treatment process. The report also included design criteria for key disciplines, site utilization plans, and project implementation strategies.
- In October 2022, we submitted the final filtration construction plans and schedule to the Oregon Health Authority.
- In November 2023, we received approval of our land use permits from both Multnomah and Clackamas counties.
- In April 2026, the filtration facility earned an Envision Platinum Award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, which provides a third-party framework for assessing sustainability, resilience, and equity in civil infrastructure.
Project costs and funding
With Portland City Council's adoption of the FY 2026-27 budget and five-year capital plan, total funding for the Bull Run Filtration Project is $2.46 billion.
The project is funded with:
- Revenues from water rates, fees and charges
- Proceeds from selling bonds, a common method we use to help pay the upfront costs of large projects
- Low-interest federal loans through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA)
The WIFIA loans will significantly reduce the cost to ratepayers while keeping the region's water safe and abundant for generations to come.
We're committed to minimizing the impacts on water rates by actively managing costs throughout the life of the project. We've formed a Project Delivery Advisory Team to advise the project team on cost management.
If you're having trouble affording your bill, our Financial Assistance program may be able to help.
Learn more about project costs and funding
Public outreach
Since 2017, we have been using a variety of outreach tools to engage with our community, gather feedback, and keep our customers informed. This includes community meetings and events, City Council and the Portland Utility Board updates, webpage updates, utility bill inserts, monthly project e-newsletters, weekly project neighbor e-newsletters, social media, and much more.
- Sign up for projects updates
- Find upcoming events
- Request a presentation for your community or business group
- Learn about the Site Advisory Group
- Learn about the Project Delivery Advisory Team
Project location
The water filtration facility is being built on City property in eastern Multnomah County that was purchased back in the 1970s because of its proximity to our existing infrastructure and the site elevation. This location allows gravity flow of water from the Bull Run Watershed through the new filtration facility to our customers in the Portland region.