Getting Water to You
How We Get Our Water To You: Water Distribution System
Water Capacity
The District maintains 761 miles of pipe, ranging from 2 to 60 inches. Twelve pumping stations are online to transmit water from the gravity flow water main to higher elevations within the District. The gravity flow main is a 60-inch water main serving the District from Portland's Powell Butte Reservoir. The District's gravity line capacity is 42.3 Million Gallon per Day (MGD), with another 10 MGD available from the Joint Water Commission, an amount well above the average and peak daily flow.
There is an emergency standby pumping capacity of 20 MGD that can be used to back up the gravity flow main.
Water Storage
Within the system, there are 22 active covered reservoirs with a combined storage capacity of about 65 million gallons. Some reservoirs are below ground with Park and Recreation District tennis courts, ball and soccer fields built on top. The major pumping stations and the reservoirs have full telemetry control systems.
Security
The District's water system is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to watching water flows and pressure, our state-of-the-art Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system monitors several water quality parameters and security alarms. If the system identifies anything out of the ordinary, alarms alert an operator to the possible problem and staff are dispatched as needed.
