Water Environment Services

Construction and development activities can disturb soil, increase erosion, and carry pollutants into nearby properties, storm drains, and local streams. Proper Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (EPSC) measures help protect water quality and reduce sediment leaving a site.

All development activity within the WES service area must follow EPSC requirements. Projects that disturb 800 square feet or more must obtain a WES EPSC Permit. Projects disturbing 1 acre or more anywhere in Clackamas County must also obtain a Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) 1200-C or 1200-CN Construction Stormwater Permit. 

Erosion Control Fees

Types of EPSC Permits

The permit you need depends on your project’s size and location. Below is a summary of each permit type. 

WES EPSC Permit

Required for:

• Projects disturbing 800 sq. ft. or more within the WES service district (excluding Happy Valley)

Typical for:

• Single-family homes
• Small commercial or industrial improvements

To apply:

• Submit the WES EPSC Permit Application and required plans

DEQ 1200-CN Permit

Required for: 

• Projects disturbing 1 acre to <5 acres
• Located in Gladstone, Rivergrove, or WES service areas (excluding Happy Valley)
• Issued by WES along with the local EPSC permit.

Typical for:

• Small subdivisions and partitions
• Multi-family construction
• Commercial and industrial projects

To apply:

• Submit the WES EPSC Application or 1200-CN Templates and erosion control plans for WES review. 

DEQ 1200-C Permit 

Required for:

• Projects disturbing 5 acres or more
• Applies within WES service areas, Gladstone, or Rivergrove
• In Happy Valley, this permit is required in addition to the city’s EPSC permit

Typical for:

• Large subdivisions
• Multi-family developments
• Commercial and industrial sites

To apply:

• Submit the DEQ 1200-C application and template-style erosion control plan directly to DEQ.
• Templates available on DEQ’s 1200-C Construction Stormwater webpage. 

EPSC Resources

Planning and Design Manual

The Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Planning and Design Manual and Best Management Practices Drawings provides detailed information about EPSC practices, materials, and installation guidelines. It was developed in partnership with multiple Clackamas County jurisdictions and Clean Water Services. 

Training

EPSC training is available from private providers. WES does not endorse or recommend any specific training company. 

EPSC Inspections

Inspections help ensure EPSC measures are in place and functioning throughout construction.

Initial Inspection

Required before:

• Single-family homes: Before pouring foundation or footings
• Commercial, industrial, and multi-family: Before any soil disturbance (except installing EPSC measures)

Schedule:

• Single-family: Call 503-742-4720
  • Code 201 – Initial EPSC inspection
  • Code 297 – Final EPSC inspection
• Commercial / Multi-family / Industrial: Call WES at 503-742-4567 and request a development representative

Ongoing Monitoring

WES will conduct periodic inspections during construction.

Final Inspection

Requested once the site has been permanently stabilized. 

Clean water is the biggest lifesaver in human history.

Thanks to advances in producing clean water over the last 200 years, life expectancy in the United States has more than doubled to 78.8 years. Most people take drinking water coming out of taps in our homes for granted. It’s also hard to imagine not being able to flush a toilet to carry wastewater away. The toilets and sewer systems we use today save millions of lives by preventing the spread of deadly diseases that come from dirty water.

At Clackamas Water Environment Services, we provide wastewater treatment services for more than 190,000 customers. 

Each year, our treatment facilities clean more than seven billion gallons of wastewater.  In the process, we convert materials that have long been considered “waste” into energy and natural fertilizer. We operate and maintain five resource recovery facilities, 23 pumping stations and more than 360 miles of pipes. 

Our Facilities

Tri-City Water Resource Recovery Facility (TCWRRF)

Kellogg Creek Water Resource Recovery Facility (KCWRRF)

Hoodland Water Resource Recovery Facility (HWRRF)

Fischer's Forest Park

Brought online: 1971
Fischer’s Forest Park is a small treatment system serving one community. This site supports individuals with a septic system process and is not open for public tours.

Boring

Brought online: 1986
Boring treatment system serves a community of approximately 150 people. The station uses nitrification and ultraviolet light to clean water prior to discharging into the fork of Deep Creek. 

Tour our Facilities

Learn how our technology works to:

• protect the health of your family and the environment
• produce clean water, energy and other useful products
• support economic vitality

Ask questions and tell us about how we can keep you, our valued customer, informed and engaged. Children attending with their parents must be at least 10 years old.

Please complete the Facility Tour Request Form and email it to: WES-AdministrativeSpecialistRequests@clackamas.us

For more information, email wescustomerservice@clackamas.us or call 503-742-4567.

Due to construction and safety restrictions, tour availability may be limited.

Trash it, Don’t Flush it!

Our septage procedures are designed to comply with all applicable District, State and Federal regulations. Septage is regulated by our Rules and Regulations. The Tri-City Water Resource Recovery Facility (TCWRRF) is the only designated receiving facility in WES. Haulers that discharge septage at the TCWRRF are required to have a valid Septic Tank Waste Discharge Permit, which is issued for a three-year period.

Permit Application Process

To apply for a WES Septic Tank Waste Discharge Permit, septage haulers must complete and submit a completed Application for Permit form, current copy of DEQ license for sewage disposal, a $10,000 Surety Bond or Bond Continuation Certificate, a current copy of the DEQ Pumping Truck Inspection Report and three-year permit* fee. The application review process takes approximately 3–5 days after which the WES staff will then issue or deny a septage discharge permit.

Septic Tank Waste Discharge Permit application can be downloaded online. For additional information, contact WES Industrial Pretreatment Program at 503-557-2834.

* WES Septic Tank Waste Discharge Permit is a three (3) year permit, however, surety bonds, DEQ license, and DEQ Truck Inspection are issued annually. An updated copy of these items must be submitted to WES Septage Program annually.

Sources

WES accepts septage originating from within Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties. City, State, and Federal regulations prohibit septage haulers from discharging industrial process wastes at the TCWRRF.

Septage loads are accepted Monday through Friday (except on holidays) between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.

What are biosolids?

The wastewater treatment process separates solids and water, after which clean and disinfected water is discharged to a neighboring water body, the solids are carefully processed in anaerobic digesters to meet state and federal regulations. This further processing converts the dewatered solids into a useful, slow-release fertilizer, which contains a range of plant-essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium. Biosolids also contain small amounts of other important minerals such as magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc and calcium, not usually found in commercial fertilizers.

WES currently recycles biosolids for beneficial use on dryland wheat farms in Eastern Oregon. Biosolids add valuable organic matter to the soil as a beneficial amendment. Organic matter provides a food source for soil microbes, increases the ability of the soil to hold water, and improves soil structure.

In addition, biosolids provide climate benefits. They capture and store carbon in the soil, and they reduce the need for commercial fertilizers, which are produced by a fossil fuel-intensive process.

• Water Environment Services Biosolids Management Plan
• Fact Sheet - Biosolids: A Beneficial Resource

A petitioner needs to complete the Annexation Packet for annexing property into a service district. 

The Annexation Packets are available below and also by calling 503-742-4567. Once you have completed the Annexation Packet return it to our office. The Annexation Packet is then filed with Clackamas County Elections. The Elections office requires two checks to accompany boundary change applications, one to Clackamas County for the application fee and the second to Metro for the mapping fee.

Clackamas County Service District No. 1

CCSD#1 provides sanitary sewer and surface water services to the North Clackamas Service Area (NCSA) in unincorporated urban Clackamas County, north of the Clackamas River and east of Oatfield Road. Residents of the City of Happy Valley are retail customers of the district.

Clackamas County Service District No. 1 Annexation Packet

Tri-City Service District (TCSD)

The TCSD primarily provides regional collection and wholesale sanitary sewer treatment services. The TCSD boundaries coincide with those of the partner cities of Gladstone, Oregon City and West Linn. Property owners must first annex to one of the member cities, then to TCSD. Only those parcels in one or another of the cities can receive sanitary sewer service.

Tri-City Service District (TCSD) Annexation Packet

We administer sanitary sewer, surface water management, and erosion control programs in urban areas of Clackamas County.

Plan review and permitting are part of the broader land use and permitting process in unincorporated Clackamas County, the City of Happy Valley and Rivergrove. We review and approve all public and private sanitary, storm and erosion control plans for development activities such as:

• Any activity that requires a building permit: construction of structures, roadways and utilities
• Grading or excavating
• Land division, including subdivisions, land partitions and lot line adjustments

Annual Reports

• 2025 Annual Report
• 2024 Annual Report
• 2023 Annual Report

Newsletters

• January 2026
• October 2025
• July 2025
• April 2025
• January 2025
• October 2024
• July 2024
• April 2024
• January 2024

The Carli Creek facility ensures a cleaner Clackamas River, protection for endangered wildlife and proves that a balance between nature and industry is possible. 

Since December 18, 2018, the innovative Carli Creek Water Quality Project has been filtering harmful pollutants from stormwater runoff from surrounding industrial properties before it reaches Carli Creek and the Clackamas River, the drinking water source for nearly 400,000 people in Clackamas County. 

In 2012, we recognized the importance of the property to river water quality and acquired the former farmland to establish the facility. In 2013–14, water quality monitoring showed pollution levels exceeded standards for:

• E. coli
• copper
• lead
• zinc

threatening water quality, fish and other wildlife. An elaborate fish rescue operation was performed before construction began.

Project Features

• a meandering channel with pools along nearly 1,700 linear feet of Carli Creek
• 61 large wood habitat structures for fish and other aquatic wildlife
• a backwater channel
• floodplain enhancements through grading, invasive, and non-native species removal, and planting a diversity of native species
• enhanced wetlands and an additional 1.36 acre of wetland

Project Funding

The total project budget including land acquisition was $4 million. WES was supported by key partnerships, such as Portland General Electric (PGE) who awarded WES $380,000 for the stream restoration elements of the project. In addition to the PGE grant, funding for the project came from surface water fees paid by property owners within the WES service area.

Photos

	Aerial of the project
	From one of the outfalls to step pools
	Habitat structures for wildlife
	Project’s wetland groundbreaking
	Birdseye view of project site
	Site preparation to protect from erosion
	Project's proximity to the river
	Work to naturalize creek channel
	Native fish protected during construction
	Extensive restoration efforts to improve habitat
	WES staff helping to protect wildlife
	Large wood installation stabilizes streambanks
	Fish salvage protected existing species
	Small schools of fish have returned post instream work
	Evidence of recent beaver activity at the site

WES Advisory Committee

The Clackamas Water Environment Services (WES) Advisory Committee provides input and makes recommendations on surface water and wastewater issues to WES and the BCC. Additionally, the committee:

• Provides a forum for coordinating, learning, understanding and gathering input on surface water and wastewater plans, policies, rules and regulations, fees, and projects;
• Reviews, discusses and makes recommendations on proposed operational and multi-zone capital improvements to the region's surface water and wastewater treatment systems, master plans, investment strategies and capital projects; and
• Advises on and supports the implementation of educational and public engagement strategies on issues relating to wastewater services, bio-solids management, surface water management, watershed health, erosion control and other related topics.

Members have experience and/or background in wastewater management, watershed health and restoration, economic development, and surface water. Members must reside or work within the WES service area.

WES serves the cities of Gladstone, Happy Valley, Johnson City, Milwaukie, Oregon City, West Linn, Rivergrove and the communities of unincorporated Clackamas County.

History

After the formalization of the Water Environment Services (WES) partnership between Clackamas County Service District No. 1 (CCSD#1), Tri-City Service District (TCSD) and the Surface Water Management Agency of Clackamas County (SWMACC) in 2016, the Board of County Commissioners of Clackamas County (BCC) acting as the governing body of WES, approved a standing advisory committee consisting of customers, stakeholders and city representatives referred to as the Water Environment Services Advisory Committee. The committee held its first meeting on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. 

Bylaws

WES Technical Advisory Team

The Technical Advisory Team (TAT) is a group of technical experts from WES and its member communities, the cities of Gladstone, Happy Valley, Johnson City, Milwaukie, Oregon City, and West Linn. The TAT is comprised of WES engineers, city public works directors, and city engineers and technical staff who meet quarterly to share knowledge and collaborate on sanitary sewer infrastructure issues.

The purpose of the WES TAT is to: 

• Provide a forum for technical staff to collaborate and share knowledge on sanitary sewer related issues.
• Provide a forum for coordinating, learning, understanding and gathering input on wastewater plans and projects.
• Review City proposals for funding under the Regional Inflow and Infiltration Reduction IGA.

The WES TAT is intended to strengthen WES’ relationships with city technical staff for the purpose of maintaining a strong and cohesive wastewater collection system.

• WES Service Area Map

Development and Permitting

• Source Control and Industrial Pretreatment
• Development Services
• Erosion Control
• Annexation Information

Rules and Regulations

• WES Rules and Regulations

Fee Schedule

• Rates, Charges, and Fees

Sanitary Sewer

• Wastewater Services
• Biosolids Management

Surface Water

• Annual Private Property Stormwater System Inspection and Reporting
• Storm Drain Cleaning Assistance Program (SCAP)
• Surface Water Management
• Watershed Health and Action Planning