Clean Water Services’ 13th Annual Leaf Disposal and Food Drive: Keeping Rivers Clean and Families Fed

Hillsboro, OR — December 15, 2005 — More than 1200 people participated in Clean Water Services’ 13th annual leaf disposal and food drive. Residents donated 1885 pounds of food for needy families and cleared 78 truck loads of leaves from neighborhood streets.

"This is a terrific partnership," said Clean Water Services’ Public Affairs Manager Mark Jockers. "The leaf disposal helps to control localized flooding caused by leafclogged storm drains and the food drive helps feed hungry families in Washington County."

Clean Water Services and the Tualatin Valley Chapter of the Oregon Food Bank have sponsored the popular leaf disposal and food drive for the past 13 years in the parking lots of Aloha and Sunset High Schools. The food drive and leaf disposal were held on November 19 and December 10, 2005. It is funded by Clean Water Services’ $4.00 per month Surface Water Management (SWM) fee. The SWM fee pays for flood management and water quality protection and improvement programs including street sweeping, 24hour emergency flood response, catch basin cleaning, water quality monitoring, watershed planning and public education.

Clean Water Services is the sanitary sewer and surface water management utility for more than 480,000 customers in urban Washington County and small portions of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Lake Oswego, and Portland. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment plants, constructs and maintains flood management and water quality projects and manages flow in the Tualatin River to improve water quality and protect fish habitat. Although Clean Water Services maintains a close working relationship with Washington County government, it is a separately managed and financed public utility.

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