WATER – A total of 30,996,764 gallons of water were delivered, 5,732,000 gallons at Alder Creek treatment plant, 10,310,000 gallons at Brownell Springs and 14,954,764 gallons purchased from City of Portland. 10.71 inches of rainfall were recorded at the treatment plant site during October. CH2M-HILL staff reconfigured the splash boards on the dam at the Alder Creek intake to improve fish passage over the winter. City staff inspected access hatches, vents and overflow piping at each storage reservoir.
WASTEWATER – A total of 36,610,000 gallons of sewage were treated and re-used for irrigation purposes. Minimum flow was 0.89 MGD on the 7th. Maximum flow was 2.7 MGD on the 31st. (rainfall was 0.25 inches on the 30th and 1.25 inches on the 31st). A total of 9.35 inches of rainfall was recorded during October. BOD concentration was 11.9 mg/l; BOD loading was 144.6 lbs.; permit allows 10 mg/l and 125 lbs.; SS concentration was 8.9 mg/l; SS loading was 100 lbs.; permit allows 10 mg/l and 125 lbs. Effluent BOD and SS permit limits do not apply when the treated wastewater is used for irrigation – these figures are shown to demonstrate treatment efficiency. 31.3 dry tons of sludge were processed during the month. 25.65 dry tons were hauled and spread on local pasture land as fertilizer. The pumps at Marcy St.; Northside, Southside, Southeast, Southwest and Meinig Ave. lift stations ran a total of 366 hours. There were some minor problems with the backup generator at Southside pump station after the power failure on October 23rd.
On October 30th I received a call from the ODFW district fish biologist about a salmon kill on Tickle Creek. ODFW crews performing spawning surveys counted 66 dead coho in the vicinity of the Colorado Rd. bridge. The wastewater plant does not discharge treated wastewater between May 1st and October 31st and the Colorado Rd, bridge is upstream of the land application site so we were confident that a wastewater discharge was not the cause. CH2M-HILL staff stayed on site until after 9:00 PM that night to show ODFW and OSP fish and wildlife enforcement personnel the outfall and various other locations on Tickle Creek. We haven’t heard back from ODFW about any cause for the fish mortality.
STREETS – The street sweeping contractor spent 70.4 hours sweeping streets and collected more than 30 tons (44 cu. yds.) of debris, covering 233 lane miles. PW staff began installing the 2 hour parking signage in the Downtown parking district.
PARKS / OTHER – Parks staff winterized all irrigation systems, drinking fountains and restrooms in parks and on City property.