Powell Butte Reservoir 2

Preparing to Meet Our Water Storage Needs

Summer 2009 through 2013

Project Overview

Portland must have sufficient drinking water storage capacity to meet the anticipated growth in demand for water and for fighting fires. The City must also offset the loss of its five open reservoirs. The three Mount Tabor Reservoirs will be disconnected from the City's water system by 2015; the Washington Park Reservoirs disconnected by 2020.

 It is for these reasons, the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) is advancing its plans for a second underground 50-million gallon (MG) reservoir at Powell Butte Nature Park.

 The Water Bureau's long-range water storage plan includes the construction of four 50-MG reservoirs and a smaller 20-MG on Powell Butte, which was purchased by the City in 1925 for this purpose. The first underground reservoir was built in 1979-1980 and became operational in 1981.

PWB conducted an extensive 13-year public process, from 1995 to 2008 to review issues related to Powell Butte Nature Park and the region's water supply system. The process included a formal Stakeholders Advisory Committee composed of interests outside of City government, including neighborhood associations, environmental organizations, recreational interests, schools, and outside water districts.

The Powell Butte Master Plan, started in 1995, identifies the City's plans to build a second reservoir by the year 2013. This plan was approved in the Powell Butte Conditional Use Master Plan in 2003.

Construction to occur in two phases

The first phase will be the excavation of the reservoir site. During this operation, hundreds of tons of soil will be removed and transported off the butte. Some of the soil will be kept on the construction site to reuse on the site once the reservoir is constructed.  

The first phase is scheduled to start this summer 2009, and will take about 6 to 8 months to complete under normal weather conditions. The second phase will start in 2010. Crews will construct the buried concrete reservoir, pipes, vaults, emergency overflow, and a number of park improvements.

It's anticipated that during the excavation phase, there will be one truck exiting the park's only access road onto SE 162nd Avenue every 2 to 4 minutes. This means an estimated 100 truck trips per day for a total of approximately 30,000 trips to and from Powell Butte during Phase 1. This tremendous volume of truck traffic would pose a safety risk to park users driving on the same road, so the park road from SE 162^nd & Powell and main parking lot will be closed during construction hours.

During Phase 2, the road will be closed intermittently depending on the construction activity. The rest of the time the parking lot and access road will be open to park users. Flaggers and traffic control will be used on site for public safety. This work is scheduled for completion in the year 2013.

Park will remain open to the public

Portland Water Bureau and Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) are committed to keeping the park open to the public and its many park uses as normal as possible while the construction is underway. Portions of the park will be restricted due to construction activities. The work zone boundaries will be surrounded with fencing and posted.

The Water Bureau and PP&R will provide alternate parking sites at two trail entrances at SW Holgate Blvd, near SE 136th Ave. and at 14460 SE Center connecting to an alternate ADA trail loop.

Most trails not affected

Currently at least two of the nature park's popular trails must be realigned outside of the construction zone - the Goldfinch trail and the access road link between the parking lot and the Holgate trail. PWB and PP&R will post the trail route changes on their websites and on kiosks located at each park entrance. PWB and PP&R are reviewing the trails and developing an update trail plan for permanent changes.

Park improvements also planned

As part of the Powell Butte CUMP, the reservoir project includes remodeling the existing maintenance shed and restroom building into an Interpretive Center and improved restroom facility. A new, separate storage and maintenance facility located northwest of the parking lot will be built due to the expanded maintenance needs of both the Water Bureau and PP&R.

In addition, there will be parking lot improvements,  some trail upgrades, and a new natural grass-setting outdoor teaching area/amphitheater will be built to better support the educational outreach programs in the park.

Citizens group helps guide park changes

The Portland Water Bureau and Portland Parks and Recreation have established a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) to help formulate criteria that will be used by landscape and design architects to develop a number of park improvements called for in the Powell Butte Conditional Use Master Plan. Funding for the improvements is included as part of the Water Bureau's Powell Butte Reservoir 2 Project.

PAC members represent the local neighborhood associations, nearby homeowners, and park user interest groups, such as the Friends of Powell Butte Nature Park, the Audubon Society, and Northwest Trails, Inc. The group began meeting in October, and will continue to meet through December 2009.

Ongoing updates to the public

PWB and PP&R staff will keep the public informed about the project through our websites. In addition, there will be project news and park notices posted in the community newspapers, neighborhood association bulletins, and on kiosk bulletin boards that will be stationed at each of the park's official entrances. PWB Public Outreach staff can be contacted 24 hours/7 days a week to address any concerns.

For more information about this project, continue to check this website, or contact Tim Hall, Public Outreach, at 503-823-6926 or TimH@ci.portland.or.us.