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Junction City and Creswell are eyeing a regional partnership for their future wastewater needs. Local leaders say it could spur more housing growth.
Two 23.5-acre lagoons sit outside Junction City, where 10 pump stations send the city’s wastewater into a treatment facility.
Piped oxygen flows into the lagoons, providing a necessary ingredient to break down the waste before sending the water on its way — after testing for bacteria — into Flat Creek, which eventually flows to the Willamette River.
Workers monitor the wastewater and equipment, which is surrounded by farmland west of Junction City.
This is an obscure but vital function of government. The success and capacity of wastewater systems can influence the economic fortunes of communities and determine whether they prosper and expand or decline and wither without the necessary infrastructure.
In Junction City, a slice of Lane County’s potential for housing growth is at stake. Without expanded capacity to treat wastewater, the city cannot efficiently add 500 new homes that developers want to build. A similar situation is playing out in Creswell, about 29 miles to the south.
In Junction City and Creswell, local and regional leaders are aware of the challenges. In both Lane County communities, state environmental regulators have found wastewater systems are failing to meet standards for discharging water back into the environment. The aging wastewater systems also restrict the ability of those communities to significantly grow — at a time when Oregon’s housing supply already is tight and local and state officials are under pressure to increase it.
In each city, the events are forcing leaders to weigh their options, which include building a new wastewater processing facility.
They also are pursuing a regional solution – one that could potentially save each city money. Their best option, they say, is to join the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC), an intergovernmental organization with a facility that treats wastewater from Eugene, Springfield and parts of Lane County.
Here’s a look at the issue, the next steps and the path forward.
Wastewater basics
The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission is an intergovernmental partnership that involves Eugene, Springfield and Lane County, providing regional wastewater treatment for both cities and areas inside their urban growth boundaries.
In 2025, the organization’s regional wastewater process facility, located along River Road in Eugene, handled 12.4 billion gallons of wastewater – an average of 34 million gallons a day, according to the commission’s annual report.
It serves about 240,000 wastewater customers in all.
For towns like Creswell and Junction City that want to join the partnership, it’s a multistep process.
First, the Eugene-Springfield Metro Plan would need an amendment to allow a connection from either city. The plan lays out comprehensive land use and general development goals for the areas.
The Eugene and Springfield councils and Lane County commissioners would have to approve that step.
Separately, the commission’s intergovernmental agreement would need a change before any connection to Junction City or Creswell could occur. That agreement does not presently allow a piped wastewater connection from outside the organization’s service area, Matt Stouder, the commission’s executive director, said in an emailed statement. The city councils and county would also need to sign off on that.
The commission’s wastewater discharge permit would need to be updated, a process that would involve public review, comment and approval from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Officials also would need to do “significant work” to determine if there is available capacity in the system, Stouder said, adding that existing users will need to be treated and compensated fairly to account for their past investments.
Todd Miller, deputy director of the MWMC, said the organization sees the potential and benefits, though its stated goals don’t directly mention connections to other nearby communities
“While accommodating the connection to outlying communities from the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area is not an expressed goal of the MWMC, the outcomes to be achieved for the greater regional community in terms of clean water, affordability, investment for the future, and positioning for ongoing regulatory compliance are mutual,” Miller said in a statement. “It is likely that there will be cost effectiveness benefits to be realized for our existing ratepayers as well as for external communities.”
Lane County gets involved
In March 2023, Creswell entered into a mutual order and agreement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The state regulatory agency found the city’s processed wastewater was not meeting water-quality standards.
The DEQ order, which Creswell signed off on, says the city admitted in 2022 that it had engaged in “manipulation of flows” resulting in under-reporting of pollutants. Essentially, the city restricted its flows on days when it knew compliance monitoring was underway, the order said.
Most significantly, the agreement constrains Creswell’s ability to bring in new customers. It’s much the same story in Junction City, where its agreement with environmental regulators also severely limits its ability to add new connections.
In 2024, Junction City entered into a mutual agreement and order with the DEQ that stems in part from discharging treated wastewater that exceeded legal thresholds for ammonia, records show. Water with elevated ammonia sometimes can harm fish and wildlife.
Essentially, what the DEQ orders mean is that the cities will need to make improvements or build new plants in the long term to allow them to accommodate additional housing.
Officials in both cities say they much prefer to connect with the regional plant to save money and head off potential problems.
Creswell city officials approached the county about their interest in the regional wastewater plant. County officials see benefits, and not just for Creswell.
That’s because an extension from the regional wastewater plant to Creswell would pass through Goshen, an unincorporated community midway between Eugene and Creswell — and a region that the county has long eyed for future industrial development. In 2011, county officials directed staff to develop a plan to develop the area’s industrial land into an economic base with well-paying jobs by 2017.
With more than 300 acres of land with industrial zoning, Goshen has assets that make it attractive, including access to Interstate 5, rail, power and fiber optics infrastructure, county records show.
What it doesn’t have is wastewater infrastructure. In the years that followed that 2011 initiative, the county developed the Goshen Regional Employment and Transition (GREAT) Plan. Part of that involved pursuing an exception that allowed urban levels of development, county records show.
Opponents with LandWatch Lane County, a nonprofit land preservation group, appealed the plan to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.
Among the state board’s requirements: the county needed to develop plans for providing the area with wastewater treatment
A line from Creswell also potentially would give a connection to the county’s nearby Short Mountain Landfill. Without such a connection, county trucks collect wastewater from the landfill’s leachate pond and drive it to a transfer station.
With a connection, that wastewater would directly flow to the regional wastewater plant.
“We would love to have a pipeline, so that we could take these trucks off the road, and that’s been a longstanding aspiration,” said Stephen Adams, Lane County’s policy director. “So we’ve been working on that, and it became clear that just getting the pipeline to Creswell would make a ton of sense. So that’s how that idea emerged.”
Adams said the project will have plenty of questions to answer before work starts. Among them: Does it comply with land-use requirements? What are the piping requirements and do any pump stations need upgrades? How would costs be shared, and what are the implications for current ratepayers? Where will the lines from Creswell and Junction City tie into the regional system?
Still, the potential expansion gives county officials the motivation to explore whether those connections to Goshen and the landfill can happen.
“That’s what we’re exploring, whether we can partner on this project to size the line appropriately to service Goshen, the landfill, and Creswell going south,” said Dan Hurley, a senior projects manager for Lane County. “Now, there’s a new conversation around Junction City going northwest.”
Junction City officials weigh in
Spencer Nebel, Junction City’s administrator pro tem, said the city is leaning toward making a connection with the regional system instead of building its own plant. It’s easier for a larger metropolitan system to change when faced with new regulations, he said.
“If the city has to build its own plant, there’s definitely substantial operating costs, and then as regulations change over time, the city can find itself back in the same position, where they have to make very expensive improvements and processes in order to meet whatever the current discharge limits are for treated wastewater,” he said.
Numerous hurdles need to be cleared before the project gets a green light. But Nebel said the city will work on preliminary engineering. Meanwhile, other officials involved in the regional wastewater plant will be consulted.
“They need to do their due diligence and make sure that this connection is good for their customers,” he said, adding that Junction City will do the same for its residents.
The DEQ agreement with Junction City allows only limited housing on an incremental basis. As a result, the city is working with developers to allow permits to go forward on a “rotating basis” for projects that are on the books now, he said.
“Housing will be allowed on a very incremental basis until wastewater issues are addressed,” Nebel said.
The city has room for growth, but first needs to have the infrastructure in place.
“Junction City is in a good, good position to add additional housing units in future years, but the wastewater issue has to be addressed first,” he said.
The city has hired two engineering firms to work on the project. The city doesn’t want to do unnecessary work upfront, Nebel said.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of the game until we know that we’re going to be allowed to connect in,” he said.
The project is expected to cost more than $50 million, which would require bonding that ratepayers would support through increased rates.
“It’s going to be an expensive project for the city, but it’s an absolutely necessary project to complete,” he said.
Creswell officials plan for robust growth
Creswell City Administrator Vincent Martorello said the long-range plans for the city of about 5,500 assume robust population growth over the next 20 years.
At this point, Creswell has two options – connecting to the regional plant or building a new wastewater plant. The regional connection is preferred because it is less expensive, with an estimated cost of about $50 million instead of upward of $70 million for a new plant, Martorello said in an email.
Besides that cost, the city also would have to pay for upgrades to keep the new plant compliant with the DEQ in the years ahead, Martorello said.
“An overriding issue for us is we currently discharge into a tributary of a creek, and each (has) very low flow, which means it is easy for us to fall out of compliance with DEQ regulations,” he said. “This is an issue facing many rural towns. So, the plant we build would most likely need to be upgraded over the years to meet the changing requirements or new requirements of DEQ, because our infiltration and in-flow of the creek is not going to change.”
The next step is preliminary design work and more analysis of the impacts that could result if Creswell joins the regional system, Martorello said.
“The benefits are cost, stability, and predictability,” he said. “Once we are connected, we will be able to increase housing.”
Creswell Mayor Nicholas Smith said there is no other viable option. He said connecting with one regional plant instead of multiple plants will improve quality and save money for Creswell, Junction City and the region.
In an email, Smith said the council has taken an “aggressive approach” to a solution.
“We are looking into investing in this system in a way that allows us to maintain control and see a return on investment for many years,” he said. “We want to be the tip of the spear on this project! We have been the aggressor from the start, and we will continue to be.”
He expects more months of waiting for a final determination.
“I anticipate it will be about six months before we are moving forward,” he said. “I hope for a faster result, but we are currently working within the pace of the Lane County government. I intend to see this process through for the benefit of our community.”
Timeline
Here’s a timeline of the events that have led to Junction City and Creswell officials exploring the possibility of connecting their cities to a regional wastewater treatment facility.
1950: Eugene and Springfield send wastewater directly into the Willamette River.
1977: The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission is formed through an agreement with Eugene, Springfield and Lane County.
1979: Groundbreaking for the regional wastewater treatment facility starts.
1984: The new regional wastewater facility starts operation.
2011: Lane County starts to research the economic potential of industrial land in Goshen.
2013: Lane County commissioners approve the Goshen Regional and Employment Transition (GREAT) Plan. It seeks to allow urban levels of development, through an exception allowed for rural areas with potential.
2014: The Goshen aspirations are challenged by Lane County LandWatch, which appeals to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. The state board directs the county to evaluate for wastewater feasibility on industrial lands.
2015: A wastewater feasibility study is completed.
2024: Creswell, facing environmental compliance issues, identifies a connection with the regional wastewater treatment facility as its preferred strategy.
2026: Junction City signals its interest in joining the regional plant.
Sources: Lane County, Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission.
