In this issue:
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Did you know?
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Powell Butte is an extinct cinder cone volcano. The City of Portland was already thinking ahead, when in 1925 it purchased the land so it could one day serve as a site for drinking water reservoirs. That day became a reality in 1970 when the City drew up a development plan calling for four 50-million underground reservoirs.
In 1981, the first reservoir became operational.
Now that's thinking ahead.
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Read past issues
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Visit our archives to read past issues of WaterWorks.
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Welcome to WaterWorks!
The Portland Water Bureau introduces "WaterWorks." This new online newsletter will provide monthly news and information about the City of Portland's infrastructure project to construct a second 50-million-gallon underground reservoir inside Powell Butte Nature Park in Southeast Portland. The new facility will help ensure that Portland will have sufficient water storage in the near future.
 City officials commemorated the start of construction activities at a groundbreaking event in late August. The Phase One excavation contractor, Nutter Corporation, immediately got to work preparing the site for the massive excavation project that is now underway.
The park will remain open during construction.
Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Commissioner Randy Leonard, Parks & Recreation Director Zari Santner and Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff joined citizens and the media in a groundbreaking celebration.
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Managing stormwater is a top priority
Nutter Corporation crews have been busy working to get all of the necessary stormwater and erosion facilities into place. One facility is a huge 400-foot by 30-foot
stormwater holding pond. The pond will collect runoff and then very slowly
meter clear water through pipes and drainage ditches into Johnson Creek once rainfall subsides. A
second 200-foot by 30-foot lower pond will do the same. Both ponds will
control the amount of water that enters Johnson Creek at an adjustable
rate to guard against overflowing the creek. The ponds are designed to
manage not just usual stormwater runoff, but also water that could result
from a 25-plus-year rain event.
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Citizens invited to weigh in on park improvements
Open house - December 12
You are invited to attend an open house to review and provide input on draft design concepts (style of structures, their orientation on the
property and materials used in their construction) for a number of park improvements called for in the
Powell Butte Conditional Use Master Plan.
The open house
will be held December 12, 10 a.m.
to 1 p.m., at Parklane Christian Reformed Church, 16001 SE Main
Street, Portland.
Project Advisory Committee reviews concepts
A Project
Advisory Committee (PAC) is working with Portland Water Bureau and Portland
Parks & Recreation to formulate criteria that will be used by landscape and
design architects to develop a number  of park improvements called for in the
Powell Butte Conditional Use Master Plan. These additional improvements include
a new parking lot, a joint public interpretive center/restroom building, a new
park caretaker's house, a maintenance structure and trail enhancements.
PAC members represent the local neighborhood
associations, nearby homeowners and park-user interest groups, such as Friends
of Powell Butte Nature Park, Audubon Society and Northwest Trails Alliance. The
group began meeting in September and will continue to meet through January of 2010 to help the City plan for the future.
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Alternate parking at the Rose Bowl
While construction work is underway, the public is not permitted to drive to or park at the main Powell Butte Nature Park parking lot. However, the Water Bureau has leased parking space at the Rose Bowl, 3800
SE 164th Ave. It's just a one-block walk west to the pathway leading to the
park's trail system. Coming soon: new parking lots at SE Holgate Blvd. near SE
136th Ave. and at 14424 SE Center St.
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Trails open
At 616 acres, Powell Butte Nature Park is the second largest park in the
Portland Metropolitan area; only Forest Park is bigger. Walkers, runners,
bikers and equestrians can continue to enjoy the park's trails during the
construction activities.
Two trails - Gold Finch Trail and the North Access Road/Trail - have been re-routed in
order to give people continued access to the park while protecting sensitive
habitat and providing for ongoing construction activity. The North Access
Road/Trail has been realigned to protect the habitat of the California Tortoise
butterfly.
You can check out trail route changes on kiosks located at park entrances or refer to the map below.
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