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Researcher(s):
Sadie Kurtz Marielle Bossio Kyle Sanborn
ENVS course(s): 220 Initiated: November 2014 Completed: Go to project site
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Kyle Sanborn, Marielle Bossio and Sadie Smith
Abstract
As population grows and climate patterns change, cities have been faced with vast problems in storm water as well as waste water management. Old systems are unable to keep up to today’s society’s needs, and many cities are having to upgrade or redo entirely, their waste water and storm water systems. Portland, Oregon’s original combined sewer system was not able to keep up with the demands, and ended up having to be directed into the Willamette due to the lack of proper infrastructure. This occurred on average, 50 times a year. Following a law suit, Portland was required to clean up their act, and promised to limit 94% of overflows. In order to do that they implemented massive, 22 ft in diameter in some place, pipe that would help transport the combined waste water and storm water to a treatment plant in north Portland. Twenty years and 1.44 billion dollar later, the project was completed in late 2011. The implementation of the Big Pipe has helped Portland reduce to on average only 3 overflows a year.
Summary
How can cities improve ageing and polluting storm water infrastructure?
How has Portland pulled off its implementation of storm water management?
As time goes on, changes need to be made to existing infrastructure. Portland, like many cities do, recently had to make improvements to their storm water system. Portland operates on a combined sewer system that transports waste water and storm water into the same pipe and transports it to a treatment plant in north Portland. Portland chose to implement the Big Pipe, a pipe that is 22 feet in diameter, to help move these combined flows to the center for treatment. While this is one of many solutions Portland, or any cities for that matter could chose to make the necessary improvements.
While combined systems are not necessarily the best system, they were (And still are) heavily used across the nation. As populations exceed the limits, cities are beginning to question whether or not they should stay with a combined system or switch to individual systems that allows for storm water to go back to rivers in one set of pipes while the waste water is transported to a treatment center. But as we see in the implementation of the Big Pipe, the cost is expansive in improvements to the combined system. So therefore the cost of redoing the entire waste water and storm water systems in entirety would be major dent to any city.
The Big Pipe was successful in helping Portland reduce its overflows into the Willamette. But like mentioned earlier, extra room, isn’t always the best solution for cities storm water management. Implementing GIS and incorporating public opinions, our team looks at how Portland as a city compares to other parts of the country, and how that might affect the success of systems like the Big Pipe in other cities. With these tools we were able to conceptualize the success of the Big Pipe system in Portland, and therefore start to consider whether or not this kind of improvement would be successful among other cities.
Sources
atheen@oregonian.com, Andrew Theen |. 2014. “Portland Sewage Overflow: 61.9 Million Gallons Flowed into Willamette River on Wednesday.” OregonLive.com. 10–24. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/10/portland_sewage_overflow_619_m.html.
Bandy, Leslie. “Non-Infrastructural Solutions for San Francisco’s Combined Sewer Overflow Problem.” http://www.plantsf.org/PL_bandy_2003.pdf.
Combined Sewer Overflow Control. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/31030.
Rudestam, Kirsten. 2014. “Loving Water, Resenting Regulation: Sense of Place and Water Management in the Willamette Watershed.” Society & Natural Resources 27 (1): 20–35. doi:10.1080/08941920.2013.840020.
stomlinson@oregonian.com, Stuart Tomlinson |. 2013. “The Big Pipe: Portland’s Sewer and Stormwater Project Shows It Can Handle Big Rain.” OregonLive.com. 11–7. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/11/post_381.html.
“Summary: West Coast Communities’ Cost of Managing Marine Debris | Pacific Southwest, Region 9 | US EPA.” 2014. Accessed November 10. http://www.epa.gov/region9/marine-debris/cost-w-coast-debris.html.
Thomas, Carmen M., and Robert G. Anthony. 1999. “Environmental Contaminants in Great Blue Herons (Ardea Herodias) from the Lower Columbia and Willamette Rivers, Oregon and Washington, USA.” Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry 18 (12): 2804.
Willamette River. Oregon Environmental Council. http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/water/cleaner-rivers-for-oregon-report/willamette-river.