Ever wondered where your drinking water comes from? Or what’s in it? Or how often it’s tested, and what it’s tested for? I found all this information in the 2009 Drinking Water Quality Report from the Portland Water Bureau, conveniently delivered to me in the mail this spring (the info is also online here http://www.portlandonline.com/water/index.cfm?c=29332). As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve seen so much comprehensive info about my water. Thanks Portland Water Bureau!

There’s a big map in the report that shows where Portland’s water comes from and where it’s treated. There are two water sources – Bull Run Lake and Columbia South Shore Well Field. Bull Run Lake is at the base of Mt. Hood, and the area in its watershed is protected from human use. There are 2 dams that store the water, and then it’s treated and pumped into town. The Columbia South Shore Well Field is a series of underground aquifers with wells dug into them. It’s a backup water supply, and was used twice last year, once for maintenance and once when weather gunked up the Bull Run Lake water.

The water is treated with chlorine to kill bacteria like giardis, then ammonia is added to form chloramines that float in the water as it travels through the pipes and keeps the water disinfected. Then sodium hydroxide is added to increase the pH level of the water and reduce corrosion of plumbing systems.

The water is tested a bunch of times during the year, and the report listed the minimum and maximum amounts of various contaminants found in the water from the tests. It also explained what the contaminants were and where they probably originated from, such as runoff, animal feces, etc. They also explained some projects they were working on, like replacing old large meters to reduce the lead in the water, and decommissioning old forest roads to reduce chemicals in runoff into the Bull Run Lake. It was super interesting and informative!

I’m sure it’s very common for households to get water quality reports, but I’ve never seen one before. I read that thing from cover to cover, and it was a few pages long, not just a pamphlet. There was a ton of information in there, and I learned a lot about the different things that are important in water quality and the process of getting the water to homes. I really liked the strict regulations keeping human activity out of the Bull Run watershed, since it’s our water supply. The town I just moved from, Bellingham WA, definitely has the opposite situation, with people driving their motorboats all over the water supply every day.

I don’t know how I feel about the chloramines/sodium hydroxide stuff in the water. I mean, as someone who drinks tap water regularly, how much of those chemicals am I ingesting into my body? And how much lead, copper, and other pipe metal traces corrode off the pipes on their way to my faucet, which I then also ingest? It definitely made me want a water filter. I mean, it can’t be that bad if I’ve been ingesting these things my whole life, but my knee jerk reaction is always to NOT want chemicals in my body. I shouldn’t take them for granted, though. They’re probably preserving my insides so I can live to be 80+, right?