A Better Solution

A Better Solution: UV or UV+Ozone Combination

Just like sunlight, Ultraviolet light (UV) destroys pathogens like cryptosporidium and Giardia in water along with other potentially harmful microorganisms. Using ultraviolet light for drinking water treatment is one of the EPA's approved methods to protect drinking water from an array of pathogens.

Additional Benefits of UV+Ozone over Filtration
UV or UV+Ozone combination is a proven methodology used in many other major U.S. cities and can be implemented for an estimated cost of $100 to $150 million - a fraction of the Portland Water Bureau's (PWB) planned filtration cost. Benefits of UV or UV+Ozone include:

EPA approved solution
The PWB already spent $16 million to design a UV treatment facility specifically to meet the EPA rules
Does not require the many additional chemicals typically added with filtration plants
Could be completed years sooner
Does not require $200 million for new pipelines
Could be added at Headworks, which would not require extensive new conduits, greatly reducing costs and shortening construction time
Reduces environmental impact
No additional waste to landfills
Seattle, San Francisco, and New York use UV filtration systems (See below)

Seattle - Cedar UV+Ozone Treatment Facility

A UV+Ozone combination treatment facility has been used successfully in Seattle since 2004 and has larger capacity than the planned PWB filtration plant
Cedar Treatment Facility - One of the first to treat drinking water with UV (Read More)
UV Light Disinfection (Read More)
Ozone Generation (Read More)

San Francisco - Hetch Hetchy Treatment Facility

Processes 315 million gallons/day (MGD), twice the volume of the proposed PWB filtration plant.
Completed in 33 months (design to build)
Cost of $87 million (See Pdf.)

New York - Catskill-Delaware UV Water Treatment Facility

Maximum design flow of 2.24 billion gallons/day (BGD) at a cost of $1.6 billion (Read More)
"A filtration plant estimated at $8B [$8 billion] was proposed initially, but the plan was later changed to building a UV facility, resulting in substantial savings" (Read More)