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Clackamas County water utility updates Milwaukie: Tri‑City upgrades on schedule, odors and PFAS testing addressed, low‑income bill relief planned
Summary
Clackamas County Water Environmental Services reported upgrades to the Tri‑City facility, ongoing odor mitigation steps after a difficult summer, PFAS testing and a planned customer assistance program that would reduce bills for eligible low‑income Milwaukie customers starting January 2026.
Greg Geiss, director of Clackamas County Water Environmental Services, briefed the Milwaukie City Council on the utility’s operations, capital projects and public concerns.
Geiss said the county operates five treatment facilities serving about 200,000 people and treats roughly 7 billion gallons of wastewater annually. He reported the Tri‑City facility upgrade — a nearly $60 million tunneling and conveyance project to route flows — is on time and on budget and will be connected in early 2026. “We train clean over 7,000,000,000 gallons of wastewater every year,” Geiss said.
Odor complaints: The utility acknowledged odor issues over the summer that residents and councilors described as the worst in many years. Geiss said odor control work is ongoing, the utility added webpage resources and an email/phone notification list for known odor events, and staff are changing the timing of maintenance where practical to minimize impacts. The county also replaced biofilter media this summer, which required a seeding period and contributed to temporary odors.
PFAS and testing: The utility said it is testing influent, effluent and biosolids for PFAS and has not identified any significant local industrial PFAS sources. Geiss described participation in statewide monitoring coordinated with Oregon State University to gather data before regulation and urged residents to avoid consumer products known to contain PFAS where possible.
Affordability and customer assistance: The county reported that, in partnership with city billing staff, it expects to implement a customer assistance discount that would reduce eligible Milwaukee bills to about $18 a month starting January 2026. The program design and outreach remain under development.
Other projects: Geiss described a centrifuge and enclosed load‑out facility planned at Kellogg to reduce daily truck traffic for biosolids hauling, administrative building renovations and a community event room planned at the treatment facility for public meeting space.
Public comment and follow‑up: Council members asked for clearer, publicly accessible water quality test data for the Milwaukee Bay area; utility staff said they are implementing database and tools to make laboratory results more accessible, and will follow up with staff to identify public‑facing options.
The utility invited councilors and residents to request a facility tour and to engage with future community events and outreach.
