While many of us enjoyed time off to celebrate winter holidays and ring in the new year, the essential work of delivering sewer and stormwater services never stops. Your ratepayer dollars not only pay for the systems our communities need now and in the future, they also ensure we can have CWS employees on duty around the clock to protect public health and Washington County’s only river. 

Just over a year ago, CWS crews marked the final hours of 2024 and the first of 2025 by containing sewage near Highway 26 in Hillsboro. A force main air release valve burst, causing a sewage overflow near McKay Creek. Within a few short hours, staff from several CWS departments responded to and contained the overflow. The crew continued to work into the night to make the repair and clean the area. This successful effort to protect the creek and your ratepayer investment and was among the examples of 24/7 public service we highlighted in our Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Annual Report. 

Another way we protect your investment is through regular reminders to only flush the Three P’s (pee, poo, and toilet paper), and to keep fats, oils, and grease out of your sink and debris and pollutants out of storm drains. 

Help us maintain the infrastructure you rely on every day. Make a commitment to can the wipes, freeze the grease to save the drain, and help cleaner water flow where it needs to go from storm drains to our waterways.  

We already know a lot about nature’s engineers, but we wanted to learn more about the beavers living in the Tualatin River Watershed. That’s why we partnered with USGS to study local beavers and see exactly how they impact the waterways we share with them. This will help us make informed and cost-efficient decisions as we plan for future projects.  

What did we learn? Beavers are beneficial but also present unique challenges. For example, while they are great at slowing down water and trapping sediment, they can also cause flooding that traps warm water. 

Findings from this study offer insights into the effects of beaver dams in larger urban streams. More work is needed to understand impacts in smaller streams, or the combined effects of many dams along the stream network in the Tualatin Basin. 

With the support of the CWS Education team, teachers and students around the watershed hatch salmon in their classrooms to release into the Tualatin River as part of the Fish Eggs to Fry program. When it’s finally time to fish release at Rood Bridge Park, students also participate in a nature walk, water quality investigation, water chemistry assessment, and a salmon migration game to get a deeper understanding of the interrelated parts of our shared environment.  

During the winter salmon season, more than 1,200 students participated in field activities and classroom programming with CWS and partners from NW Steelheaders, Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District, National Wildlife Federation, and Oregon Ag in the Classroom. 

To protect these newly released salmon, and all wildlife in the Tualatin River Watershed, it’s important to consider actions you take in and outside your home. Storm drains flow directly into the Tualatin River and its tributaries. This means what goes on the ground, or your roof, can end up in the one water we all share. 

There are many ways to keep up with what’s new at Clean Water Services. For updates on public meetings — including the Board of Directors, the Clean Water Advisory Commission, and the CWS Audit Committee — use the button below to sign up to receive our Public Meetings Information newsletter.