Clean Water Services outlines $78M five-year Tualatin plan and $1.4B West Basin needs
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Summary
Clean Water Services briefed the council on a $752 million operating/budget picture, a West Basin 20-year master plan with roughly $1.4 billion in conveyance and treatment work, a five-year Tualatin project list (~$78 million), upcoming billing and IGA updates, and the permit cycle through 2027.
Clean Water Services officials gave Tualatin's council an overview of regional wastewater and stormwater responsibilities, long-range capital needs and near-term projects during the Nov. 10 meeting.
Joe Gall, CWS chief utility relations officer, told the council the agency's current budget is about $752 million and emphasized the integrated watershed-based permit that governs operations through the 2023'27 cycle; CWS must apply for a new permit by June 2027. Gall described the recently adopted West Basin Master Plan, which includes roughly $920 million in conveyance projects and nearly $500 million in treatment-plant improvements through 2045, a combined West Basin total of about $1.4 billion.
Gall said the East Basin plan (completed in 2022) includes about $301 million in conveyance projects and just over $100 million at the Durham treatment plant over a 20-year horizon. For Tualatin specifically, CWS listed about $78 million of projects planned over the next five years, including trunk lines, pump stations to support growth in Basalt Creek, and other localized conveyance work. Gall said three pump stations are planned over the next five to seven years to serve expansion areas.
CWS also told council it will hire a consultant by year-end to study billing alternatives (the consultant contract is expected to be executed by the end of the calendar year and take about a year), and the agency is working with cities and Washington County to update an operating intergovernmental agreement that hasn't been comprehensively updated since 2008; staff cited an 11/01/2026 target for completing IGAs. Gall said the district maintains healthy reserves to support long-term investments and that rate and System Development Charge alignment will be a central part of planning.
Councilors asked for more detail on maintenance cycles for stormwater swales and the nature of city vs. private maintenance responsibility. Gall and staff said maintenance cycles are about three to four years for routine inspections and that responsibilities depend on ownership. Staff agreed to follow up with specific schedules and locations.
CWS officials also said they plan to return to council with a more detailed rate-development presentation, likely in February, and will continue coordinating technical code and stormwater design updates with city staff.
