Water supply program plans to seek approval to build a new water treatment plant in Sherwood.
Ray Pitz, Tuesday, August 25, 2020, The Times
An ambitious pipeline project that will result in providing drinking water for those in the Tualatin Valley Water District, along with residents in the cities of Beaverton and Hillsboro, is moving forward with plans to begin construction on a water treatment plant in 2022.
The Willamette Water Supply Program, a joint project between the Tualatin Valley Water District, Hillsboro and Beaverton, is expected to submit a land-use application to the city of Sherwood in September to build an expansive water treatment facility in Sherwood, just off of the 124th Avenue extension, according to Marlys Mock, media and community relations coordinator for the program.
Built on 40 acres of property annexed by the city of Sherwood last winter, the future treatment plant will be constructed on 20 acres of land that will be accessed along a future roadway, Blake Street, west of 124th Avenue. The facility will be able to withstand a catastrophic natural disaster such as an earthquake, according to Willamette Water Supply Program officials.
At the same time, road and other improvements will be made on another 20 acres also owned by the Willamette Water Supply Program.
“There will be pedestrian/bike amenities on Blake (Street) and then Washington County also requires us to build out some improvements on 124th (Avenue). That will be happening as part of this project, too,” said Mock.
The new treatment facility, expected to be completed in 2026, will include viewing platforms that oversee nearby wetlands areas, along with accompanying interpretive signs.
The plant will be able to provide up to 60 million gallons of water per day but is designed for a maximum of 120 million gallons of water each day.
The overall pipeline project calls for the construction of an intake line that originates on the Willamette River in Wilsonville.
Tualatin Valley Water District has customers in Washington County as well as unincorporated portions of Beaverton and Hillsboro. The pipeline would provide a backup source for Beaverton water, city officials there have said, and while the Clackamas River is the main source of water for Tigard, TVWD serves portions of that city as well.
The pipeline will eventually make its way up Grabhorn Road, where two 15-million-gallon reservoir tanks will be built.
“At the top of Grabhorn on Cooper Mountain, that’s where we’re building our reservoir tanks,” said Mock. “We’re planning on starting construction (in 2021).”
In addition, a portion of the pipeline will be installed along Tualatin-Sherwood Road, beginning in 2021 and completed in the fall of 2024. That installation will include improvements to the road between Teton Avenue and Langer Farms Parkway, where it will be widened to five lanes — two lanes in each direction and a center lane — in a joint project between the water agency and the Washington County Department of Land Use & Transportation.
The pipeline project is being funded by Tualatin Valley Water District and Hillsboro and Beaverton ratepayers.
