Tabor to the River integrates hundreds of sewer, green stormwater management, tree planting and other watershed projects in the Brooklyn Creek Basin to improve sewer system reliability, stop sewer backups in basements and street flooding, control combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Willamette River, and restore watershed health.

The Brooklyn Creek Basin extends from the Willamette River to Mt. Tabor between SE Hawthorne and SE Powell boulevards, and covers about 2.3 square miles. In 1851, Gideon Tibbetts settled in the area. Tibbets was a grist mill operator and developer who named the area "Brookland" due to the abundance of streams and creeks on the property. 

Now known as the Brooklyn Neighborhood, this area was once home to a major creek that flowed freely from Mt. Tabor to the Willamette River. Long ago the city diverted this creek, and many other free-flowing streams, into underground sewer pipes to make way for development.

Tabor to the River combines innovative stormwater management techniques with sewer repairs and improvements to solve a variety of urban challenges. The work will stop basement flooding, manage stormwater more naturally, and begin to restore the health of our watersheds.

This is more than a City of Portland program. It's a partnership between the city and the community to create sustainable solutions to our urban watershed problems. The result will be a sound, dependable sewer and stormwater infrastructure which will give us healthier urban watersheds, more livable neighborhoods, and cleaner rivers and streams.