QuickTake:

The Eugene Water & Electric Board is requesting code changes to property in Glenwood it owns to allow the utility to develop an intake on the Willamette River and build a water treatment plant. EWEB says the new facility will provide resiliency to the utility’s drinking water supply and reduce the risk of impacts from extreme disruptions, such as wildfires and severe weather. 

The Eugene Water & Electric Board is one of the largest utilities in the Pacific Northwest that relies on a single source for its drinking water: the McKenzie River. 

Now, EWEB plans to tap the Willamette River as well.

That’s according to the utility’s chief operations officer, Karen Kelley, who discussed a proposed Willamette River water intake and treatment plant at a recent joint public hearing of the Springfield and Lane County planning commissions.

EWEB has submitted an application for amendments to the Springfield Development Code and Glenwood Refinement Plan to enable the construction of the intake and treatment plant in Glenwood. 

After the March 17 public hearing, both planning commissions voted to recommend their elected bodies, the Springfield City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners, approve the amendments.

If the elected bodies approve the amendments, it will add “high impact public utility facilities” to the permitted uses in a Glenwood zoning district that extends southward along both sides of Franklin Boulevard from the roundabout at Main and South A Streets to the Interstate 5 on-ramp.

EWEB plans to complete preliminary designs for the plant by this summer. 

Lane County’s participation is required because some of the affected properties have not been annexed by the city and are still unincorporated. 

EWEB supplies water from the McKenzie River to more than 200,000 people. Kelley said an additional water source is necessary to ensure a steady supply, considering EWEB’s only water treatment plant, the Hayden Bridge Filtration Plant, is aging.

“Having only one source of water does put us at a significant risk because our plant is about 75 years old and continuing to age,” she said. “If we were to have an extended outage, that could be a major problem, not only for people’s health but also for our economy. So we are concerned about natural disasters like wildfires, severe weather events and earthquakes and also equipment failure at this aging plant.”

Increasing risks to EWEB’s water system

More than a decade ago, EWEB planned to build the second treatment plant along the Willamette River at its former headquarters on East Fourth Avenue in Eugene, Kelley said. 

However, the utility discovered a source of contamination upstream of the proposed location that could impact public health. EWEB requested a new point of diversion on the river from the Oregon Department of Water Resources and asked that it be as far upstream as possible to eliminate potential contaminant sources. In 2015, the department issued EWEB a point of diversion just below the confluence of the river’s Coast and Middle Forks in southern Glenwood, Kelley said. EWEB purchased land for the intake and treatment facility.

The proposed project includes transmission piping to connect the plant to EWEB’s existing water system. 

A map of Glenwood shows where EWEB’s water intake and treatment plant are proposed to be built. Credit: Screenshot of EWEB presentation during planning commission meeting

Laura Farthing, an EWEB principal engineer and project manager for the Willamette Treatment Plant project, said during the hearing that risks to EWEB’s water system have increased in the 17 years she’s been with the organization.

In 2020, she said, treatment plant staff nearly had to evacuate due to the Holiday Farm Fire. During the 2024 ice storms, the treatment plant lost power for the first time in 75 years, requiring EWEB to operate on emergency standby power, which limited its treatment capacity and hindered its ability to aid neighboring utilities that had issued boil water notices. Last year, Farthing said, a truck crashed next to the McKenzie River, which could have contaminated the river.

“These incidents could have very easily caused EWEB to have to shut down the treatment plant, leaving Eugene residents without a source of potable water,” she said. “These types of events are becoming more severe and more frequent. This is compelling us to act now to ensure our residential and business customers have a reliable access to clean water in the future.”

She said the new water source needs to be independent of the McKenzie River and built to current seismic codes. 

The Hayden Bridge plant “was not built with these kinds of disasters in mind,” Farthing said.

The McKenzie River and Hayden Bridge plant will continue to be EWEB’s primary source of water, with the Willamette River plant operating regularly to be ready in case of emergency, said Colin McArthur, principal planner with Cameron McCarthy Landscape Architecture and Planning, which is consulting with EWEB on the project.

EWEB, the Springfield Utility Board and Rainbow Water District have an intergovernmental agreement for pipeline connections between the utilities, and the new water source could serve the other utilities in an emergency, he said during the public hearing. 

The Springfield Utility Board is also working on plans to establish a new water treatment facility. Placed on the McKenzie River in Thurston, the plant will complement SUB’s existing Willamette River facility and groundwater sources. 

Public support

Ahead of the public hearing, 21 people wrote in support of the new water treatment plant. 

Letters were submitted by Rainbow Water District Senior President for Finance & Administration Jamie Moffitt, Eugene City Manager Pro Tem Matthew Rodrigues, McKenzie River Trust Executive Director Joe Moll and Oregon State Rep. Lisa Fragala. 

No public comments were provided in opposition.

Next steps

EWEB is working on a preliminary design for the water treatment plant and plans to present updated design and cost information to its board of commissioners in July, EWEB spokesperson Jen Connors told Lookout. Staff presented a planning-level cost estimate of $160 million to the board in October. 

The utility is developing a funding strategy that includes rate adjustments, borrowing options, potential deferral of other capital projects, and pursuing grants and state and federal funding. 

After a series of rate increases over 10 years, EWEB estimates an average single-family home could see a cumulative $17 increase on their monthly water bill to support development of the new treatment plant. 

Similar to residential rates, general service customers could see a cumulative increase of about 35 to 40% over 10 years, according to EWEB. 

Cost estimates will be refined through the design process, Connors said. 

EWEB will have a better understanding of when construction will start after the preliminary design is complete, she said.