Portland's Drinking Water - We're #1!

I am so excited to boast that the Portland Water Bureau won first place in the American Water Works Association/Pacific Northwest Chapter (AWWA/PNWS) tasting contest this year! That's right - your drinking water, #1!!!

This is the bureau's second win in the last four years. We had some great competitors this year including the City of Tigard, Wilsonville, the City of Carlton and the City of Salem.

Why does Portland's water taste so great? Well, one reason is because treatment operators, along with lab personnel, carefully monitor raw water quality so as to keep mono-chloramine at a high level. Mono is good and keeps our water tasting good. Di-chloramine and tri-chloramine are bad. Think swimming pool odor for those. This is a careful balance, however, and is not an easy task.

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

Portland Water Bureau