Our Water System Under Threat!
author: Mike Thayer
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Where is the radical community on this issue?? You must know that behind the current issues over building a filtration plant and covering the reservoirs, are multinational water corporations who have been working with the water bureau and pushing this for decades. It is all part of a larger push to privatization of our water system. Many of us have heard of what happened in Bolivia. It's happening here. Read on.
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To Portland Water Drinkers:
We currently drink some of the best quality tap water in the country, naturally pure rain water which falls into a protected watershed, is filtered through millions of fir needles and earth, and stored in open reservoirs, where it is exposed to natural UV radiation, effectively keeping it free of harmful microbes. Because we source our water from an entire watershed that is protected, we do not drink the multitude of chemicals that most Americans drink-everything from birth control, to pesticides, teflon to pharmaceuticals. It is a system that has worked beautifully for over 100 years, and is widely understood as the model for sustainable and affordable water. We are truly blessed to be drinking the water we do. Let us take a moment to give thanks for this.
But all this is changing—and fast—yet not for the reasons you have probably heard. The official story goes something like this: There is an EPA mandate, the LT2 rule, which as it applies here, requires Portland to cover its open reservoirs, and build a filtration plant. This is to mitigate the threat of a harmful microorganism called Cryptosporidium, which may be present in our water system. Although we already have high quality tap water, Portland will have to comply with the LT2 regulation because there's not much we can do about it.
If this is the story as you know it, I encourage you to take just 5 minutes to read on and get some of the real facts, which have been mostly hidden from public knowledge.
Please take the time to read the following facts, our health depends on it.
What the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) doesn't want us to know, is that for decades they have been contracting with private, multinational water corporations, (such as CH2M Hill, Severn Trent, and US Filter) to explore the potential of burying the reservoirs and creating a centralized filtration plant.
*In 1995, long before the LT2 rule, Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH), a large multinational, began drawing up the Powell Butte Master Plan and the burial of the reservoirs. The Powell Butte plans include a "blend center" that can handle additional water from the Willamette and the Columbia in underground reservoirs.
* In May 1999, CH2M Hill was part of a workshop on "How to Privatize Municipal Systems." It was held in Tualatin and was closed to the public.
*In 1990, Joe Glicker, a long term high ranking employee of the PWB, authored an article titled "Convincing the public that drinking water is safe," which talked about how to manipulate public opinion and create favorable legislation. In 1994, he left the water bureau and was hired with MWH. He immediately secured two lucrative water bureau contracts for MWH. He was a major player in most of the contracts with MWH and continued to be involved in the regulation that has been created with regard to Cryptosporidium.
*PWB manager Rosemary Menard and MWH representative Joe Glicker were key negotiators of the EPA LT2 regulations. They met behind closed doors with EPA officials to negotiate this rule. Although PWB managers do not have the authority to enter into agreements on behalf of the City, Ms. Menard signed the FACA "Agreement in Principle" without it ever being brought before Council and without any public disclosure. So, although PWB claims it can't do much against the federal LT2 regulations, it in fact helped create them!
These are alarming facts. What is happening to our water system verges on criminal, and is effectively going unnoticed by most Portlanders. Though the Water Bureau website asserts they will not blend Columbia or Willamette water with Bull Run, they were looking into the option years ago, as is documented. With an expensive filtration system in place, it would be much harder to defend Bull Run because of the mentality "we can just filter it out now." The world over, there is a huge push to privatize water systems because of the enormous profit than can be made. The same forces are at work here, and have been for a long time. We're on a slippery slope towards our system being increasingly controlled by private companies who do not have our health as their primary concern. All of this and more is documented at  http://friendsofreservoirs.org/background.html
Now is the time to get involved. Attend the Friends of Reservoirs meeting TODAY, Sept. 23, 7pm at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church, in the cafeteria in church basement. 5441 S.E. Belmont
~Write a letter to all city council members demanding they pursue a variance with fair water testing procedures and do all they can to preserve our water system. http://friendsofreservoirs.org/get-involved.html for contact info.
~Join the Facebook group and invite all your friends: Friends of Bull Run Water
~If you have energy/inspiration to do outreach/education please email Mike Thayer,  ammoniteshell@gmail.com Let's get the word out!
~Get Educated! The whole history with documentation is available at http://friendsofreservoirs.org/background.html
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