Capacity Management Program
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Making decisions, moving forward
March 1, 2009 – How does the Clackamas County Service District No. 1 (CCSD #1) meet the challenge of protecting our magnificent rivers, ensuring public health and maintaining a diverse and growing economy?
By finding cost-efficient ways of expanding treatment capacity in one of Oregon’s fastest growing areas. New growth will pay its own way, but everyone will contribute to meet increasingly higher water quality standards.
The challenge is that CCSD #1’s major wastewater treatment plant is operating beyond capacity. To meet the immediate needs, the Kellogg Creek Water Pollution Control Plant located in Milwaukie leases sewage treatment services from another district as a way to serve some of its customers.
Built in the 1970s, Kellogg serves unincorporated areas in north Clackamas County, the City of Happy Valley and the western edges of Damascus. In addition, the District provides wastewater treatment services to the City of Milwaukie, parts of Gladstone and Johnson City under wholesale contract agreements.
At the moment, 15 percent of the wastewater created in CCSD #1 is processed at the Tri-City Water Pollution Control Plant located in Oregon City, which provides service for customers in the cities of Oregon City, West Linn and Gladstone (Tri-City Service District). Tri-City needs that spare treatment capacity back to meet its district’s own growing demands.
Short-term steps
After intense scrutiny of the options, and much debate, the Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners (BCC), serving as CCSD #1s governing board, concluded that about $120 million investment was needed to expand treatment capacity at the Tri-City plant to meet the immediate needs of CCSD #1. Since late 2007, the BCC has:
- Entered into a Mutual Agreement Order (MAO) with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The MAO is a legal document that compels CCSD #1 to take corrective action to avoid discharges of untreated waste into the Willamette River from Kellogg. (April 2008)
- Authorized WES to start construction on Phase 1 of the RiverHealth Capacity Management Program (CMP). This project expands the Tri-City plant to ease CCSD #1's capacity issue, conduct maintenance improvements at Kellogg and build an intertie pipeline connecting the two districts. Work must be completed by 2011 under the DEQ agreement. Construction started in the summer of 2008.
- Authorized CCSD #1 to take the first step in financing sewage capacity expansion. On Feb. 18, 2009, the District successfully completed the sale of $38.5 million in bonds.
However, the investment, more than $120 million, a temporary fix only buys another eight years of growth in wastewater treatment capacity. To look at long-term approaches, please see Recommendations.
