Local water not affected by E. coli outbreak

Portland Water Bureau users west of the Willamette River advised to boil their water, did not include Tigard or Tualatin

By Geoff Pursinger

The Times, Dec 3, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Tigard, Tualatin, Durham and King City residents who drank tap-water during the city of Portland’s “boil water notice” between Saturday, Nov. 28, and Sunday, Nov. 29, were in no danger of contracting E. coli, local officials said.

Portland put the notice into effect after the Portland Water Bureau discovered a contamination of E. coli in a water reservoir on Thanksgiving, nearly 24 hours after a routine test of the water Wednesday. A second test came back positive on Saturday, which is when the city began publicly warning people about the possible contamination.

Residents who lived west of the Willamette River were advised to boil their water for at least one minute before drinking.

A press release issued by Sally Mills, Tigard’s environmental program coordinator, on Monday said that while the Tigard Water Service Area does purchase its drinking water from the city of Portland, it does not come from the Reservoir 3, where the contamination was discovered.

“While Tigard worked to verify that our water supply was not affected, some TWSA residents may have been informed to boil their water as a precautionary measure,” the statement said.

The Tigard Water Service Area includes the cities of Durham, King City and two-thirds of Tigard, between Greenburg Road and Scholls Ferry Road to the north, unincorporated Washington County to the east, and Interstate 5 to the west.

The city of Tualatin issued a statement on its Web site that said, “The Tualatin water supply, however, is OK. Tualatin gets water from Powell Butte through the Washington County transmission line. Our water is fed directly from the Bull Run conduits and is not from the affected area of Portland.”

The Tualatin Valley Water District – which also issued a clean bill of health to its water – serves the northern third of Tigard, as well as the cities of Hillsboro and Beaverton.

Had Tigard’s water been contaminated, the statement said, a boil water notice would have been issued by the city of Tigard to all of the affected residents.

In August, Tigard signed a water partnership agreement with the city of Lake Oswego to begin using water from the Clackamas River beginning in 2016.

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