Your water comes from the Clackamas River

The Clackamas River is an extremely high-quality, raw water source.  Timothy Lake and the Ollalie Lake make up the head waters of the Clackamas River. These lakes are located high up in the Mount Hood National Park area. Along with the lakes, there are many other small tributary mountain streams that contribute to the flow of the river.

How do they turn river water into drinking water?

Drinking water for OLWS is pumped into our plant then placed through two different treatment techniques: slow sand filtration and membrane filtration.

The Allen F. Herr Water Treatment Facility began production in August 1999.  Prior to the building of our own treatment plant, Oak Lodge Water District had to purchase our water from another provider.  We are now part owners along with Sunrise Water Authority and the City of Gladstone, this makes up the North Clackamas County Water Commission.

The plant installed the membrane filters on July 28, 2005.  Membrane filtration is a state-of-the-art treatment technique that filters water through a series of small tubes with openings one micron in size.  This ultra filtered water allows for a continuous supply of water even when raw water turbidities rise due to heavy debris in the river during the winter months.

If you would like more information about the filtration process, please call OLWS and we can help to answer any questions you may have concerning your water.

Is there Fluoride in our water?

We currently do not supply fluoride in our water.  For questions please email Marty Guenther at the following address marty@olwsd.org.