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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Project name: Ochoco Irrigation District, Gorup 1 Pump Station Project

Location: Prineville

Completion: May 2024

Size: 23,000 square feet

Cost: $13.56 million

Owner: Ochoco Irrigation District

Owner’s Representatives: Black Rock Consulting, Clearwater Engineering Group

Engineers: Clearwater Engineering, Black Rock Consulting

General Contractor: Taylor Northwest

Submitting Company: Taylor Northwest

Other Key Participants: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, PPL Electric

Subcontractors: Abbas Well Drilling and Pump Service, C2R Fabrication, Cascade Civil, Ferguson Waterworks, Reynolds Technical Services, Tomco Electric, Vernam Crane Services

The Ochoco Irrigation District (OID) has completed a major milestone in its Infrastructure Modernization Program with the delivery of a state-of-the-art pump station that will serve nearly 1,000 farmers and industrial patrons across 20,000 acres in Crook County.

The Group 1 Pump Station Project, completed just in time for the 2024 irrigation season, represents the first phase of OID’s broader modernization efforts funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in coordination with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The project deadline was non-negotiable – farmers in the Crooked River Valley depended on it. Taylor Northwest (TNW) led construction, replacing an outdated system with 11 vertical turbine pumps, and installing 500 linear feet of 78-inch profile wall HDPE supply pipe, a 96-inch HDPE header pipe, and steel discharge header ranging from 54 to 79 inches – all anchored by 460 cubic yards of concrete.

The project faced significant challenges from the outset when initial bids came in at nearly twice the available budget. Originally planned as two pump stations, the scope was reduced to a single station with TNW working closely with OID to develop value-engineering solutions.

Additional complications arose when delays in finalizing an agreement with PPL Electric threatened critical equipment procurement. Through extensive collaboration, the team devised a retrofit solution to integrate existing equipment with the new pump station to maintain schedule.

The construction required extensive excavation at depths up to 23 feet below groundwater level, employing sheet piling for shoring – a method rarely used in Central Oregon due to prevalent rock formations. The dewatering operation ultimately pumped and returned more than 2.5 million gallons of water to Ochoco Creek and the Crooked River.

The completed pump station features cutting-edge remote monitoring technology, allowing OID to make operational adjustments with a simple tap on a screen. This advancement optimizes flow monitoring and efficiency while reducing operational costs.

As part of Central Oregon’s broader irrigation modernization efforts, the project represents a significant step toward a more sustainable water future, reducing evaporation losses while supporting agricultural communities and ecosystems throughout the region.

The pump station was delivered on April 19, 2024, meeting the substantial completion deadline.

“The partnership established between OID and TNW has solidified a winning team that we look forward to working together on future phases of our Infrastructure Modernization Project,” Bruce Scanlon, OID manager, said in the project submission form.

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Construction of the $2.1 billion Bull Run water infrastructure project can resume after a Multnomah County hearings officer gave the go-ahead, the Portland Water Bureau announced.

“As of Monday, we’re going to start doing minor work to prepare the site, and we anticipate to be in full swing within a month,” Water Bureau spokesman Brandon Zero said Thursday.

Construction of the megaproject has been halted since February, after the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ruled that another hearings officer had not adequately considered community natural resources in approving the project’s conditional use.

Hearings officer Liz Fancher ruled Monday with approval of the project’s conditional use exception.

“This decision allows us to move forward to protect public health, and to provide resilience to wildfires, landslides, flooding and other natural disasters,” Mayor Keith Wilson stated in a news release on Wednesday. “The city is eager to put hundreds of construction tradespeople back to work to complete these critical water system improvements.”

A joint venture of MWH Constructors and Kiewit Corp. is building the project.

The project, which comprises a water filtration plant near the Clackamas County line and a network of pipelines, has faced opposition from a neighborhood group, the Cottrell Community Planning Organization.

The project team is working to meet a Sept. 30, 2027, deadline to deliver filtered water to the Water Bureau’s approximately 1 million customers in the Portland-metro area. The deadline was imposed on the Water Bureau by the Oregon Health Authority after cryptosporidium was repeatedly found in drinking water.

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