How is this drought affecting Milwaukie's water supply?

City of Milwaukie Oregon Official Website

Recent news reports about the drought in Oregon have been disturbing; the Governor has a drought declaration in place for 20 of Oregon’s 36 counties, Oregon’s snowpack this winter was at its lowest level in 35 years with the earliest melt-out dates ever recorded, and overall reservoir storage in the Willamette Basin is at 47%, of full which is 50% below the desired level.

But here's the good news, drought declarations have not been made in the NW corner of the state, and Milwaukie’s water supply is ground water, which is much less affected by current drought conditions than the surface water supplies of most areas.

The City is using about 3 million gallons of water daily during the summer. We are permitted by the state to pump 7.3 million gallons of water daily and have above-ground reservoirs with a capacity of 6 million gallons. The infrastructure that is in place, the reservoirs, wells, pumps and mains facilitate the City’s water need very well.

The groundwater that is used comes from the Troutdale Aquifer – a 300 square mile underground reservoir located beneath a large portion of Clark County and the Portland Metro area at a depth of between about 100’ to 400’. The Troutdale aquifer is primarily recharged by the High Cascades and is influenced by the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. City well records over the past 20 years show no change in the water level of the aquifer.

The City of Milwaukie is a member of the Regional Water Providers Consortium along with most of the Portland metro area water providers. Those managers believe that municipal water supplies in the Portland metropolitan area are adequate to meet the region’s water needs. The Portland metro area water providers are prepared to meet demand and in fact have been proactively planning for over 10 years to ensure water needs can be met in the face of drought or other water shortages.

A focus of the group is to promote and educate water customers about water conservation. Despite population growth, water use has steadily declined in large part due to water conservation. To learn more visit www.regionalh2o.org.