Starting July 1, 2026, water is going to get more expensive for all Portland Water Bureau (PWB) ratepayers from Sandy to Portland. This is to fund the “unruly mega-project” otherwise known as the Bull Run Water Filtration Plant.

Households and businesses receiving PWB water will have to pay 9.8% more for water for the next year, but it doesn’t stop there. Water rates will compound by 9.8% for the next several years—doubling in the next decade, as reported by KATU in April. 

How did we get here?

Nine Portland City Councilors and the Portland Mayor approved the Portland Water Bureau’s request to issue $525 million in water revenue bonds to continue the construction of the Bull Run Filtration Plant project.

PWB has only identified one source of funding for the multi-billion dollar filtration plant project: Ratepayer increases. This means that Portland City Council locked in all PWB ratepayers from Sandy to Portland for these increased costs, in spite of passionate testimony from community members who are concerned about affordability and impacts to farmland and communities in east Multnomah County and north Clackamas County.

Let's let these 9 Portland City Councilors and the mayor of Portland know how we feel about increasing the cost of a basic necessity, water, during these tough times!