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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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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