After 35 years of public works experience I’m willing to bet everything I own that when the design process was given the green light, city bureaucrats and hired (outside) consultants took the “we know best” route and kept the actual people (water system operators and maintenance employees) who actually operate and maintain the system completely out of the design process. This is what typically happens in a municipality. And I can promise that if one of those “little folks” had been included, the omissions would have been pointed out very early in the game. But in general, they aren’t considered “smart enough” to include in projects they will ultimately have the responsibility to operate. Pure insanity. But then bureaucrats do not become bureaucrats because they have mastered their previous positions. They become bureaucrats because they were incompetent at their previous positions. And too many consultants, once they get their hooks in a government project, latch on like limpets and refuse to let go until they’ve bled every penny possible from the taxpayer. And the taxpayer gets water systems that can’t deliver a drop.......unless and until the consultant gets more money. This particular story is just another deja vu moment.......
I don't quite get this little oversight. Portland already has a big pipe running from Bull Run to the City. Now they want a filtration system? And it should have included another Pipe from Bull Run to the City? Seems like an entirely new project to me, replacing the main line pipe or adding another from Bull Run. But then, I guess I don't get the filtration system requirement either. I thought Bull Run was already pristine. In part because they keep the public out of there. but....
Well, it just means that they would have had to pay it all along. The public just didn't find out about it until now. Still, they have always needed the facility and have always needed to pay the $850 Million for the facility and the pipes to convey the water to Portland. I guess this means a rate hike for those of us outside the city that get some of our water from Portland.
Did they get the funding around the time recreational pot was made legal? That'd explain the forgetting part.
It's not clear to me where the pipes to and from this new filtration system go. Or, for that matter, where the filtration plant is to be located. I wouldn't think it would require new pipes from Bull Run to Portland, however. barfo
No kidding. You'd think that they would have at least noted the issue and provided an range of cost estimate. Not to have done so says to me that they just plain overlooked it.
I'm going to conclude that engineers studied the issue and their advice was taken. Perhaps the old pipes couldn't withstand the new pressure. Perhaps the old pipes had outlived their lifespan. Perhaps the treatment plant as far away because they can't be located on the pristine Bull Run watershed. Who knows. I'm no hydraulic engineer nor even a civil engineer but I do know that large projects have issues that lay persons cannot easily grasp.
That may be - but there is nothing in the article to suggest that new pipes are being laid from Bull Run to Portland. Marzy assumed that, I think - I'm not sure it's true. barfo
I know that they won't even allow horses in the watershed due to the manure although they do put up with deer and elk manure which isn't good either. This means that the treatment plant must be far away which also means new piping somewhere. The pipes must be pretty large to accommodate all that water.
That is why I recently obtained a $450M contract from the City of Portland to reduce manure levels in Bull Run by putting diapers on wild animals. The initial funding will cover raccoons and possums only. Deer and elk are out of scope. barfo
I believe municipal building plans are public domain in most places. There has to be some preliminary set of plans (or at least prerequisites) in order for there to be a bidding process, you would think, but a guy may have to physically walk into the courthouse to see any of said plans. Also, bids for municipal projects are (generally) public documents as well. Most bids are itemized in a fairly detailed matter and would give a pretty good idea of what a project entails. A lot of it may be online, I imagine Multnomah County has a fairly up-to-date filing system.
