01
About the Utility
The Portland Water Bureau is the City of Portland’s drinking water utility: its finances form the City’s Water Fund, the City is the borrower on its federal WIFIA loans, and City Council sets water rates by ordinance. The Bureau describes a system serving about 840,000 people in Portland and surrounding areas; EPA’s loan record cites 912,000, and the Bureau’s financial plan says close to one million people rely on the Bull Run. Most of its regional wholesale agreements were due to end in June 2026, and Willamette Week reported on 2 September 2026 that its largest wholesale customers are leaving, with Tualatin Valley Water District on a short-term contract until its own supply is ready.
02
Water System
The Bull Run watershed in Mount Hood National Forest is the primary source, and its water is not yet treated for Cryptosporidium. The Columbia South Shore Well Field, able to produce close to 100 million gallons a day, backs it up in hot, dry summers and during winter turbidity, but cannot meet the needs of Portland and its wholesale customers alone. It was called on in May 2026, when a supply conduit leak was repaired in under 36 hours with no reported water quality impacts. Total per capita demand fell from 109 to 92 gallons a day between FY2008-09 and FY2017-18.
03
Infrastructure & Performance
Water loss is the main efficiency gap. Losses equalled 13.70% of water supplied in FY2023-24 and have swung widely from year to year, against a State of Oregon requirement of 10 percent; the Bureau has submitted a Water Loss Action Plan and is introducing advanced metering jointly with the City’s Bureau of Environmental Services. Service quality is stronger. Improved corrosion control helped keep the lead 90th percentile at higher-risk homes at 4.4 ppb in 2024, below the federal action level, and Portland has no known lead service lines.
Water loss
Portland Water Bureau water loss as a percentage of water supplied, FY2019-20 to FY2023-24 (fiscal years ending 30 June)
Reported actuals from the Bureau's water loss figure (Figure 1) in its satellite leak detection case study.
Sources: Portland Water Bureau, water loss and carbon emissions case study (Figure 1).04
Investment & Priorities
Investment is dominated by Bull Run Filtration, a plant designed to filter 135 million gallons a day plus new pipelines, which must deliver filtered water by 30 September 2029 under a compliance agreement with the Oregon Health Authority. Estimated at $2.56 billion as of February 2026 and financed partly by two federal WIFIA loans, it was 43.00 percent complete at the end of September 2026, according to the Bureau’s project status page. Debt is projected to grow with it, and annual rate increases continue.
05
Sustainability & Resilience
Wildfire is the clearest climate exposure for an unfiltered mountain supply. The lightning-caused Camp Creek Fire burned inside the Bull Run watershed in 2023, and filtration is designed partly to remove wildfire sediment and ash and keep Bull Run water in service during turbidity events. The Bureau has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, and to halving them by 2030 compared with 2007, through solar and micro-hydro generation, lower electricity use and a cleaner fleet.
06
Key Challenges
- Delivering filtered Bull Run water by 30 September 2029 within a $2.56 billion estimate.
- Protecting the unfiltered Bull Run supply from wildfire, turbidity and conduit failure.
- Reducing water loss towards the State of Oregon’s 10 percent requirement.
- Managing debt projected at approximately $2.44 billion as wholesale customers leave.
