Portland Switches to Emergency Water Supply
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland, Oregon, is using its emergency water supply system rather than the Bull Run watershed after a toppled tree damaged a treatment plant east of the city.
The Portland Water Bureau said it began using safe-to-drink groundwater from the Columbia South Shore Well Field on Nov. 15 when a windstorm sent a tall evergreen crashing into the bureau’s Lusted Hill facility in Gresham, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
The impact battered the roof and interior of the building and broke the facility’s corrosion treatment equipment, said bureau spokeswoman Jaymee Cuti.
Cuti was unable to say how much it would cost to fix the damage and didn’t know when they would switch back over to Portland’s primary water supply, which is drawn from Bull Run Lake near Mt. Hood.
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