The under-construction Bull Run water filtration plant has received recognition for its environmental performance by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure.

The nonprofit industry group gave the Bull Run project its highest honor — the Envision Platinum Award — for the project’s “comprehensive approach to sustainability and resilience throughout project planning, design and construction.”

Bull Run is expected to become operational in 2029, delivering filtered water to nearly 1 million customers in Portland and the surrounding area.

“This recognition reflects the care, collaboration, and long-term thinking behind the Bull Run filtration project, one of the most significant infrastructure investments in Portland’s history,” Deputy City Administrator for Public Works Priya Dhanapal stated in a news release. “It protects public health, strengthens system resilience and ensures safe, reliable drinking water for Portlanders for generations.”

Under way in rural southeast Multnomah County, the massive water project is expected to cost $2.56 billion. Crews led by a joint venture of MWH Constructors and Kiewit Corp. broke ground in June 2024. They were forced to halt construction for a year while project opponents appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. Construction resumed in February.

The institute commended the project’s use of gravity-fed water conveyance, which reduces energy use and improves reliability compared to pumping; engaging community input, supporting minority-owned, woman-owned and disadvantaged contractors; and protecting sensitive wetlands and native plants.

Bull Run “demonstrates the city of Portland’s commitment to building a facility that delivers clean, safe, reliable drinking water while also strengthening environmental resilience and sustainability,” Mayor Keith Wilson stated.

The institute, based in Washington, D.C., was founded in 2010 by the American Public Works Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Council of Engineering Companies.

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Portland officials on Thursday said the city will request a two-year extension to complete the massive Bull Run Filtration Project.

Meanwhile, the project’s estimated cost has risen sharply. The water filtration and distribution project is now expected to cost $2.56 billion — a $450 million increase.

City officials blamed increased costs on an extensive land use process that included the response to an appeal made to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

“We are doing everything we can to expedite the delivery of this crucial investment in Portland‘s economic viability and the public health and safety of our people,” Mayor Keith Wilson stated in a news release.

on Wednesday that the project could proceed despite objections from the Cottrell Community Planning Organization, which was joined by the Multnomah County Rural Fire Protection District No. 10 and 1000 Friends of Oregon in challenging the infrastructure project.

City officials were forced to halt construction on the project in February 2025 as the land use appeal played out.

The Portland Water Bureau is on the hook to meet a September 2027 deadline to deliver filtered water to the utility’s nearly 1 million customers. The city reached an agreement with the Oregon Health Authority to provide filtered water after the parasite cryptosporidium was repeatedly detected in the city’s water supply.

The seismically resilient and weather-resistant filtration plant will provide safe and consistent water following a major earthquake, landslide, wildfire or major storm, Wilson stated.

The project is being built by a joint venture of water-plant specialist MWH Constructors and construction giant Kiewit Corp. in a rural area of east Multnomah County near the Clackamas County line. The joint venture broke ground on the site in June 2024.

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A neighborhood group opposed to construction of the $2.1 billion Bull Run water filtration plant isn’t giving up yet.

On Friday, an attorney for the Cottrell Community Planning Organization filed a notice of intent to appeal a Multnomah County hearings officer’s determination that the infrastructure project could proceed.

The Cottrell group earlier appealed a county hearings officer’s determination to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. Then in January, LUBA remanded the matter back to a hearings officer.

After an April hearing, hearings officer Liz Fancher ruled in June that the project could resume construction.

Cottrell, represented by Bateman Seidel attorney Carrie Richter, has argued the county failed to fully consider natural resources in its decision approving construction. (Editor’s note: Richter co-writes monthly land use commentaries to the 91��Ƶ.)

The Portland Water Bureau halted work on the massive project in February after the remand. Construction is only now ramping up, Water Bureau spokesman Brandon Zero said.

Zero vowed the Water Bureau will move forward.

“We will continue to address whatever issue is brought forward because nearly a million people around the region depend on us to provide clean and safe water,” he stated in an email on Friday. “Unfortunately, the cost of this appeal will ultimately be borne by our customers, even though it stems from objections raised by a small group of residents who live near the site. We have won at every stage in the land use process, including the recent Multnomah County hearings officer decision to reapprove our permits.”

Zero added that Fancher’s June decision “reaffirms this is the right place and the right time for this project.”

The city of Portland faces a Sept. 30, 2027, regulatory deadline to provide filtered drinking water to customers after a parasite was repeatedly found in the city’s water supply.

Construction on the infrastructure project is led by a joint venture of MWH Constructors and Kiewit Corp. They broke ground on the site in June 2024.

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An effort to build new raw water facilities for the west side of the Portland-metro area is well under way in Wilsonville.

The facilities are at the site of the existing Willamette River Water Treatment Plant, which was developed in partnership between the city of Wilsonville and Tualatin Valley Water District in 2002. It was designed and built with the intention of future expansion, which is now coming to pass.

Now, the Willamette Water Supply Program – a partnership between the Tualatin Valley Water District and the cities of Beaverton and Hillsboro – is carrying out this expansion as part of a massive $1.3 billion project involving construction of over 30 miles of pipeline, a new water treatment plant in Sherwood, pump stations, and other infrastructure to supply water to customers in unincorporated Washington County as well as Beaverton and Hillsboro.

The raw water intake facilities being built by general contractor Kiewit Corporation consist of expanded or upgraded fish screens, an intake pipe, a caisson, a pump station building and related equipment. Once completed, raw water from will be pumped through a 66-inch pipeline from Wilsonville to a new state-of-the-art water filtration plant in Sherwood’s Tonquin Employment Area. Ground is scheduled to be broken on that plant later this year.

In Wilsonville, part of the work also includes seismic earthwork. It’s scheduled for completion in June.

Construction of the raw water facilities is being done in phases; completion is expected by 2024. The full Willamette Water Supply Program effort will not wrap up until at least 2026.

Right now, crews from Condon-Johnson & Associates, Pacific Foundation, Kiewit Corporation and subcontractors are involved in drilling related to the seismic earthwork on the lower site near the river. Preparation is under way for installation of the southern end of the 66-inch pipeline.

On the upper (north) side of the site, crews last month began installing new water and sewer utilities and connections to existing utilities. Those pieces will serve a new electrical building that provides power for the pump station and other infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Arrowhead Creek is receiving a trenchless crossing. Crews are building and excavating the launch and receiving shafts. Work on the trenchless pipeline crossing itself is set to begin in April.

Late last month, workers began installing a large underground vault (to hold a large meter and valves) in the northwest corner of the upper side of the site.

To learn more about the project, visit: .

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Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, paused to catch his breath at the top floor of a seven-story office building at The Waterfront Vancouver, near the Columbia River.

Workers below were finishing staircases and elevators. A block away, heavy equipment was being used to drive piles to support excavation of what will become the Indigo Hotel and condominiums. Construction management trailers occupied surface parking lots.

With breathtaking speed, The Waterfront Vancouver is becoming a real place. Restaurants are poised to open soon. White-collar professional firms have signed leases for office space under construction. Apartments could begin being leased as soon as next week. There will be parks, a seven-mile trail and a hotel.

“We wanted to get the project started and have a little bit of everything,” said Cain, whose company is managing the build-out of the 20-block site.

Visiting The Waterfront Vancouver these days is a bit like venturing inside a bee hive. Workers are everywhere – hundreds of them in brightly colored T-shirts and safety vests, shouting and stomping among scaffolding and staged equipment in a heat wave. The din of steel slapping into place is matched only by blaring backup alarms from construction vehicles and the roar of F-15 fighter jets taking off from Portland International Airport across the Columbia River.

The numbers give only a sense of the magnitude of the development – 3,300 residential units and 1.5 million square feet of office space. Robertson & Olson, a Southwest Washington firm, is the general contractor handling construction of the first three buildings.

“There’s a big, pent-up demand for this kind of development in Vancouver,” Cain said.

Gramor Development aims to attract many of the 70,000 workers who commute daily from Vancouver to Portland. Cain believes many companies have offices in Portland only because Vancouver lacked good options.

“We think pretty quick we’re going to get a lot more office interest,” he said.

Last week, McKean Smith, a law firm with offices in Portland and Hillsboro, agreed to lease 3,600 square feet in the Block 6 building, Gramor announced.

The legal practice joins Murdock Charitable Trust, Chicago Title and Fidelity National Title in taking office space at The Waterfront Vancouver. The Block 6 office building is more than 50 percent leased.

The Waterfront Vancouver started as a partnership among five parties from real estate and construction backgrounds who were eager to invest in Vancouver’s future. They jumped at the opportunity to land riverfront property when Boise Cascade decided to close a paper mill on the site and sell. Gramor Development agreed to lead the development with backing from retired managers of Kiewit Corp., a construction firm based in Vancouver. The partners formed Columbia Waterfront LLC.

“It sounded like something where you could come in and really change the face of the town,” Cain said.

The plan was never for Gramor Development to build everything itself, Cain said. Already, two blocks have been sold. Gramor sold Block 3 to Summit Development, which plans to break ground in January on a 12-story cross-laminated timber building with approximately 250 residential units and ground-floor retail space. Kirkland Development purchased Block 4, where ground has been broken for an 11-story tower that will have the 138-room Hotel Indigo and 40 condominiums.

Gramor Development is in negotiations on a deal for another block, Cain said.

“We’re happy to have someone come in and do it all,” he said.

Restaurants will open in the first wave in a bid to attract visitors. Sometime in August, WildFin American Grill will open. The seafood restaurant will have a sidewalk-facing window to serve fish tacos to outdoor diners on nice days. Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar is poised to open about a month later. Barlow’s Public House should open by the end of the year, Cain said.

The development is already attracting jet boat users interested in checking out a mast installed as a piece of public art. A 180-foot-long water feature from artist Larry Kirkland that maps the Columbia River and its tributaries is in development.

The Waterfront Vancouver is unfolding largely with public dollars. Columbia Waterfront laid the groundwork for the development with new streets or extensions of Columbia Way, Grant Street and Columbia Street. The development also contributed to construction of a railroad trestle that provided access to the property. The city of Vancouver is paying for the new park.

Calls to Vancouver officials were not returned promptly.

That stands in contrast to Zidell Yards in Portland’s South Waterfront District, where development has halted because of a disagreement between ZRZ Realty Co. and the city of Portland regarding the amount of public funding for streets and other infrastructure. In Vancouver, the developer largely paid for the infrastructure.

In comparison to Portland’s bureau structure, Cain praised Vancouver’s city manager-led government.

“The government here is effectual,” he said.­­

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