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Saltzman stormwater project

If you travel on Saltzman Road, you’ve noticed some work being done in a stormwater facility this summer. In fact, you might have noticed how it nearly flooded the road a couple of times last winter!

The open water area is home to a family of ducks, and, presumably, a few nutria or beaver.

We asked Steve Keenon, Surface Facilities Maintenance Supervisor for Clean Water Services, about the project. Here’s a Q&A to help you learn about this project and about how CWS works to maintain water quality in the Tualatin Basin.

I understand, from talking to some workmen, that the repeated flooding that was going on there was due, at least in part, to the activity of nutria* or beavers. Is that accurate?

Detention facilities are intended to hold high water and meter it out slowly, but this older facility does not function properly because three larger pipes drain to a 12" pipe. The problem was compounded by the beaver activity. In addition to repairing the berm, our crews will install another overflow pipe to allow the area to drain better. We will also revegetate with native wetland plants and hydro-seed the disturbed areas to protect against future erosion.

Did you have to wait until the dry season to work on a permanent fix?

Replanting began as soon as excavation was complete. The green sprayed material now visible is the “hydro-seed.”

To the extent possible, this type of work is done during dry weather to minimize impacts to the creek and wetlands.

Was the facility built by the developers of Bauer Oaks? Did they do a good job, or was their construction any part of the problem?

This facility was constructed as a requirement for development of Bauer Oaks, and is owned by Bauer Oaks HOA. Its purposes are to improve water quality and drainage by filtering pollutants from stormwater runoff and detaining the water after storms.

Will you be doing anything to deter the nutria/beavers from further activity, or is it just expected that they’ll be “busy?”

Because beaver activity is highly beneficial to watershed health, Clean Water Services' policy is not to tamper with beaver. Occasionally, if beaver activity prevents the public stormwater system from functioning, we might use techniques that deter beaver activity, such as installing pipes that allow water to flow through the beaver dam. Beaver are a protected native species and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has authority over them.

So everything east of Saltzman is a “water quality facility,” and only the area west of Saltzman is a “wetland?

This area surrounds a tributary of Willow Creek, and there are multiple wetlands, as in all our local watersheds. Wetlands are identified as part of the development process, which requires analysis and permitting by state and federal agencies (Division of State Lands and Corps of Engineers). Even areas that have not gone through an official wetlands delineation process, generally associated with development, might be wetlands.

What’s the approximate budget for this work? Does any of that come from the HOAs?

This routine maintenance of a facility that is privately owned but maintained by Clean Water Services is funded by ratepayers. Our Field Operations Division budgets for two or three such maintenance projects per year, in addition to the routine maintenance we perform on 720 publicly-maintained water quality facilities throughout un-incorporated Washington County. This particular project will cost approximately $15,000.

I’ve been interested to see the developing strategies for water management in CWS. How do you learn how to do this stuff? It’s not the traditional way of managing storm water, is it? How unique is CWS in the US?

Clean Water Services is recognized for innovations in stormwater management, but most utilities are striving to improve storm water management strategies for water quality, habitat improvements, and cost savings. It's particularly challenging as communities become more densely developed and unprecedented storm patterns deliver unpredictable amounts of precipitation.

Was the facility designed to accommodate all the future growth upstream? Now that the “economy is recovering,” Bonny Slope is just teeming with new construction on that Willow Creek drainage. Is this, along with the Water Quality tracts included in new development, going to be able to handle big rainstorms?

Development standards continue to evolve and generally address only impacts due to the project being permitted. This facility was not intended nor required to provide for all potential runoff from upstream development. The facility provides amenities and benefits for people and wildlife, in addition to stormwater management.

I walked on the little trail on the south side. Is that acceptable public access? Is there any way that could be extended to become a public trail? It’s becoming such a beautiful area, and we’re so short of trails in our neighborhoods — any way to connect to The Bluffs Park? Even a picnic bench at the terminus of the trail would be a very nice amenity for neighbors…the view of the north end of the area — kind of a little pond — is really pretty!

This is private property so any discussion of trails would be up to the HOA.

Steve concludes with this, “Everything we do at Clean Water Services aims to protect public health, while enhancing the natural environment of the Tualatin River Watershed. Combining science and nature, we work in partnership with others to safeguard the river's health and vitality, ensure the economic success of our region, and protect public health for more than 550,000 residents and businesses in urban Washington County.”

CWS and these efforts are another example of how our “service districts” provide the infrastructure that those of us in the Urban Unincorporated Areas of Washington County need to live comfortably without a city!

*Nutria are an invasive, non-native species that are not protected by Oregon law. Rumor has it that a Bonny Slope resident tried raising them in the ‘30s for fur, gave up on the enterprise, and the remaining critters found a happy home in our wetlands. See the ODFW site for more information

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