For immediate release
Clean Water Services' Durham Facility Turns 30
Hillsboro, OR — September 29, 2006 —
Clean Water Services' Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility at 16580 SW 85th Avenue in Tigard was dedicated to the public in September of 1976. In 30 years of operation, the facility has cleaned approximately 203 billion gallons of sewage, and now cleans 20 millions gallons daily. The facility serves about 167,000 residents and businesses in eastern Washington County, including Durham, King City, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin and parts of Beaverton and Lake Oswego.
Operated by Clean Water Services (formerly Unified Sewerage Agency), it is one of the most advanced wastewater treatment facilities in the world. Most of the cleaned wastewater is released to the Tualatin River where it improves the water quality, and some is recycled to irrigate nearby athletic fields, golf courses and parks.
The Durham facility was built to help solve the community’s water pollution problems. In the late 1960s, the Tualatin River was dying. Ten cities and 16 sanitary districts were discharging poorly treated wastewater to area streams including Fanno Creek. The public health threat become so severe that in 1969 the State Environmental Quality Commission placed a building moratorium on Washington County until a solution was found. In 1970, Washington County residents overwhelming approved the formation of the Unified Sewerage Agency to consolidate sewer service into a single regional agency. Voters also passed a $36 million bond issue to help fund the initial 10 years of improvements. At the time, it was the largest bond issue ever attempted by a local unit of government in Oregon.
The Durham Facility cost $26 million to construct when it opened in 1976. Federal funding from the 1972 Clean Water Act paid 75 percent of the construction costs. The facility centralized a scattered system of wastewater management and enabled the District to provide the most advanced level of treatment in the northwest. Once on line, the Durham Facility enabled the decommissioning of 14 small, inefficient wastewater treatment plants including facilities at Alpenrose Dairy, Beaverton, Metzger, King City, Tualatin, Sherwood, Fanno Creek, and Cedar Hills.
Keeping pace with the community’s growth, the Durham Facility has been under nearly continual expansion with an investment of approximately $190 million in upgrades and improvements since 1970. The Durham Facility is one of Clean Water Services’ four wastewater treatment facilities in Washington County, where the county’s population has more than doubled since 1976 from 192,000 then to nearly 500,000 residents today.
The Durham Facility has won numerous awards including the 2005 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1st Place Clean Water Act Recognition Award for Operations and Maintenance of a large facility with advanced treatment. Other awards include: 1987 Governor’s Energy Award; 1992 City of Tigard Community Design Award; 1999 Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association (PNCWA) Safety Award; 2005 –2006 PNCWA Oregon Outstanding Reuse Facility Award; and has been a six time winner of the Association of Metropolitan Sewage Agencies (AMSA) Gold Award for 100% permit compliance, and five time winner of AMSA Silver Award since 1995. Durham Facility staff also developed an innovative and cost-effective phosphorus removal process that was granted a U. S. patent in 2002.
Clean Water Services is a water resource management utility for nearly 500,000 people in urban Washington County and small portions of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Lake Oswego, and Portland. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment facilities, 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.
Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility Facts
• Dedicated to public on September 10, 1976
• 203 Billion gallons of wastewater cleaned since opening
• Cleans wastewater for 167,000 residents and businesses in eastern Washington County
• Value of investments made since opening: $190 million
• Cost of original construction: $26 million, 75 percent of which was funded by federal Clean Water Act grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Initial bond issue approved by voters in 1970 was for $36 million over 10 years. At the time, it was the largest bond issue ever approved by a unit of local government within Oregon.
• Wastewater treatment plants replaced by Durham Facility: Sherwood, Tualatin, Hervin/Tualatin, King City, Southwood Park, Tigard, Metzger, Fanno, Alpenrose, Beaverton, Cedar Hills, Uplands, West Tualatin View, and Tektronix.
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