Hello Friends,

We hope this update finds you safe and well. We've all had a lot of craziness on our plates this year, and we know that it's easy to put things out of mind with all that's been going on.

Our committee continues to look for ways to fight the building of the $1B filtration plant.  Our primary objective is to inform the Portland Water ratepayers that the proposed filtration plant will:

• dramatically raise water rates
• adding more chemicals to our water
• and more pollution to the environment.

Importantly, Portland could address the EPA mandate to deal with cryptosporidium with an EPA approved UV plant at Headworks for approximately $150M, a fraction of the cost of the filtration plant. Portland spent $16M designing this UV facility specifically to address the crypto issue and it’s a “ready-to-go” plan that could be completed years sooner than the filtration facility.  UV facilities are used in Seattle, SF, and New York with great success.  So, why not here?   
 
Because of the dramatic events of 2020, all attention has been on COVID-19, protests, riots, loss of jobs & businesses, forest fires, and the elections; we have not been able to effectively spread our message to them.
 
However, we are a tenacious bunch and we are not giving up!  After all these things pass, the ratepayers will be burdened with extremely high water bills.  We hope by raising awareness of PWB’s expensive filtration plant and its drastic impacts, we can motivate the citizens of Portland to take action and persuade the Portland City Commissioners to reverse their decision.   How do we do this?  
 
We recognize the compelling power of video for quickly bringing stories to life. We've connected with a non-profit based in Gresham that produces professional-quality video at a low cost, MetroEast (https://metroeast.org/about/  They can create some short videos that we can use to further our message through digital means such as cable TV and YouTube, and given to targeted local organizations.  We knew it was not advisable to present this media push during the elections; however, we hope to have them ready to go by late November/early December.  The production budget is approx. $5,000.  We have a donor who will match the first $2,000.  We are reaching out hoping to receive pledges of financial support for this effort. 

WE NEED YOUR HELP.  

Please consider pledging some financial support at any level. You can do so on our pledge form here: https://forms.gle/AJT7MyncVchL9WJJ6

No monies will be collected until we achieve our funding goal --- only then will we have people actually contribute their funds. 

Let's not let the Portland Water Bureau saddle the ratepayers with some of the highest water bills in the nation while adding chemicals to the water and polluting the environment in the process! Also, if you wish to volunteer please contact us at bullrunwaterguardians@gmail.com
 
Remember the words of The Lorax "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

** Please note: Donations at Change.org do NOT go to fighting this plant, but instead go to supporting Change.org. As much as we appreciate this platform, please be sure to follow the instructions above to pledge to the BRWG porject.

Thank you!