Imagine a day without water

Blog Post

Oct. 17 is Imagine a Day Without Water, a national day to highlight the value of water in our lives. Take a moment to consider what a day without this vital resource would be like and all the work that happens every day above and below ground to make sure you'll always have water when you need it.

Every year on October 17, people across the nation reflect on water's importance in our lives by Imagining a Day Without Water. What if you turned on your tap one morning and…nothing came out? No water to for you to drink. No water to take a shower, brush your teeth, or make your morning coffee. No water for your plants or pets. No water.

It can be easy to take water for granted. After all, you turn on the faucet and it just comes out, right?

In reality, your water travels through a complicated network of pipes, valves, reservoirs, storage tanks, and meters to reach your tap. To keep the water safe and flowing, more than 600 employees work around the clock to

Our water quality staff conduct almost 50,000 tests on our water for more than 200 potential contaminants each year.

• protect and manage two water sources, the Bull Run Watershed and the Columbia South Shore Well Field
• treat our drinking water
• collect and test around 4,700 water samples each year
• complete thousands of maintenance projects each year to proactively repair and replace hydrants, valves, meters, and pipes
• invest in our infrastructure to build and maintain a resilient water system
• respond to emergencies like water main breaks or severe weather 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• provide Portlanders with information about financial assistance, using water efficiently, water quality and pressure issues, and educational programs

Our crews install over 30,000 feet of new water main every year to replace old pipes before they break.

We all know that water is essential to life, and that means each of our employees and the work they do is just as essential. Pipes may deliver the water to your faucet, but our dedicated workforce keeps it safe and flowing. So next time you use water, take a moment to reflect on what it took for that water to make it to your tap and ask yourself what your day would be like without it.

Keeping up with the Water Bureau

Want to learn more about how we deliver water to nearly one million people every day? Keep up with all the work we do by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and by signing up for our newsletters.