BeavertonOregon.gov/PublicWorks
Drinking Water Supply
Water Source Project for the Future
Water resources agencies in Washington County are working to ensure clean, safe and reliable water supplies for the environment and needs of a growing community. They have formed a water supply partnership to finance and plan for future water supplies from the Tualatin River. The Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project partners include Clean Water Services; Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD); and the cities of Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Beaverton, Tigard, and Tualatin in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The USBR is the builder and owner of the Scoggins Dam/Hagg Lake.
In June 2001, the Beaverton City Council authorized signing of a funding agreement to participate in a Water Supply Feasibility Study of the Tualatin River basin, the first phase in the Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project. Completed in 2004, the study evaluated alternatives for reliable, safe, and sustainable water supply options to meet the long-term Tualatin River streamflow, agricultural irrigation, and municipal and industrial water needs in Washington County to the year 2050. The Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project is being led by Clean Water Services in partnership with other agencies listed above. Beaverton’s current level of participation in the Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project is 1,763 acre-feet (574 million gallons of storage) or 3.33 percent of the total nominal 52,900 acre-feet of new raw water storage that would be created in an expanded Scoggins Dam with a 40-foot dam raise. The Scoggins Reservoir expansion would nearly double the current volume of the reservoir totaling 60,640 acre-feet (usable volume 53,640 acre-feet).
From 2005 to date, an alternatives analysis examined the various supply options and two were presented in an Environmental Impact Statement. The first alternative is a 40-foot dam raise of Scoggins Dam (at Hagg Lake) with a large-diameter raw water pipeline pumpback from the Tualatin River to refill Hagg Lake each year. The second alternative is a multiple source option that includes a 25-foot raise of Scoggins Dam with a large-diameter raw water pipeline pumpback, and expansion of the Willamette River Water Treatment Plant located in Wilsonville.
The City currently owns a right to use up to 4,000 acre-feet in Hagg Lake and 4,300 acre-feet in Barney Reservoir for summertime water supply. During the summer, water in the two reservoirs is released into the Tualatin River as needed to meet the City’s potable water demand. The City of Beaverton acquired rights to its 4,000 acre-feet of water in Scoggins Reservoir (Hagg Lake), referred to as the Tualatin Project, under two separate contracts with the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.
Proposed "Tualatin Project" Title Transfer
The City of Beaverton and other Washington County water resources agencies are working closely with the federal government to consider transfer of the USBR’s Tualatin Project (Scoggins Dam, lake roads, recreation facilities, related facilities and other real property) from the United States government to local ownership. In essence, local agencies holding existing contracts with Reclamation would buy the existing Tualatin Project, including Scoggins Dam, Hagg Lake, adjoining lands and other associated Reclamation facilities. Reclamation’s “Framework for Transfer of Title” (August 1995) encourages the Federal government to consider the transfer of title of facilities that could be efficiently and effectively managed by non-Federal entities. The City currently owns a right to use up to 4,000 acre-feet in Hagg Lake and 4,300 acre-feet in Barney Reservoir for summertime water supply. During the summer, water in the two reservoirs is released into the Tualatin River as needed to meet the City’s potable water demand. The City of Beaverton acquired rights to its 4,000 acre-feet of water in Scoggins Reservoir (Hagg Lake), referred to as the Tualatin Project, under two separate contracts with the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.
Title transfer offers several potential benefits to both the local water resources agencies like Beaverton, and the Federal government. Local ownership and control of facilities and water rights will reduce decision-making complexity, improve fl exibility and allow for more efficient management of water resources in the Tualatin River Basin. Title transfer also would allow the Federal government to divest itself of responsibility for ongoing operation, maintenance, replacement, management, regulation of and liability for the Tualatin Project.
Local water resource agencies currently own and operate Barney Reservoir, which provides municipal water and river fl ow augmentation enhancement) water for communities in the Tualatin Basin. Coordination of dam operations and conservation of stored water could be improved with local ownership of the Tualatin Project. Local ownership also would offer significant time and cost savings for a planned Scoggins Dam and reservoir expansion project.
Local water resource agencies are working closely with State and Federal officials to determine cost, benefi ts and impacts of a potential title transfer to determine what is in the best interest of the US government, local agencies, and the public. The partners of a future locally-owned Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake are also working closely with Oregon’s Congressional delegation to secure Federal funding to assess the current condition of the Tualatin Project facilities under consideration as part of the overall title transfer investigation.
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