Polk County Regional Water Supply Study

Polk County wanted to take a collaborative approach to regional water supply planning that would result in equitably improving water supply resilience and reliability throughout the county. GSI led the development of the study, which centered on a water use permit for the Willamette River held by Polk County. The project involved collaborating with 10 municipal water providers, evaluating the status of the existing water supply and long-term (50-year) water demands, and developing a regional supply concept based on the County’s water use permit and other relevant permits from the water providers. Stakeholder engagement with the water providers resulted in an infrastructure, operational, and organizational concept between the Cities of Independence and Monmouth and the County using their respective Willamette River permits. Finally, we developed a preliminary intergovernmental agreement (IGA) for the remaining parties to continue to advance the regional supply concept using their water use permits.

GSI’s work involved:

• Updating county-wide water provider demand forecasts.
• Developing a stakeholder communications network.
• Creating a capital improvements plan.
• Developing a preliminary IGA.