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The Columbia South Shore Well Field Wellhead Protection Program
The Portland Water Bureau operates a well field capable of producing close to 100 million gallons per day. The Columbia South Shore Well field(CSSW) is the second largest water source in the State of Oregon, with about half the daily capacity of Portland’s Bull Run source. Water is drawn from 25 wells in four aquifers spread over an eleven square mile area that includes lands in three different cities. CSSW groundwater is used as an emergency back up for the 880,000 Oregonians served by the Bull Run supply and also provides supplemental supply during the summer demand season.
In an effort to protect this valuable drinking water resource, the cities of Portland, Gresham and Fairview adopted the same wellhead protection regulations aimed at new and existing businesses that use and store hazardous materials that pose a threat to groundwater. Portand's City Council adopted the regulations on July 2, 2003.
The program culminated a three-year community-based planning process involving the cities, business and industry, regulators, citizens and other stakeholders. Partly what makes this program unique was the participation of a business and industry technical working group who worked together to ensure that the regulatory program requirements would maximize risk reduction for investments made, not be duplicative or conflict with other regulations and that it be realistic and practical. The new program replaced existing programs in Portland and Fairview and initiated requirements in Gresham. The most significant proposed revisions involve expanding the protection area boundary regulating existing businesses and changing the requirements for affected businesses operating within that boundary .
In developing the requirements for affected businesses, the program was heavily modeled on the provisions of the Uniform Fire Code that govern the use, storage, and transportation of hazardous material. This approach was used so the new requirements will be compatible with other existing regulatory approaches. Residential and agricultural property owners are also being asked to address the potential impacts of their activities to this important groundwater resource by adopting best management practices for the use of household and agricultural chemicals .
The Columbia South Shore Well Field Protection Program provides protection of the well field through local ordinances and regulations on businesses and industries. In June 2008, the program was certified by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) making our groundwater a Goal 5 resource under state land use goals. The Goal 5 designation allows land use planning to be used as a tool to protect the area from groundwater contamination. Portland, Gresham and Fairview's groundwater protection program has been acknowledged by ODEQ to achieve the level of protection needed for our precious groundwater resource.
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