City of Oregon City

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News Release

Oregon City Wastewater Infrastructure Mostly Weathers Storm, One Line Break Occurs At Singer Hill - 12/19/25

Oregon City, ORE. – With the worst of the historic rainfall over, Oregon City crews are evaluating how the wastewater system weathered the storm.

 

Crews were monitoring six pump stations throughout the City during the event. Despite record-breaking flows, there were no sanitary sewer overflows from the pump stations.

 

“We had round the clock monitoring of the stations as this type of inflow is far beyond what the system normally must contend with. Fortunately, the system was able to handle the flows and none of the neighborhood stations overflowed,” said Public Works Director Dayna Webb.

 

One issue that did occur was a sewer main beneath Singer Hill Road in the historic McLoughlin District.

 

An overflow was first reported on Dec. 15, which was determined to have been caused by a blocked pipe.

 

The blockage was cleared and the overflow quickly subsided. The spill was outside of the pedestrian travel zone, and the Grand Staircase remains safe to use.

 

When the next round of record-breaking rainfall came, the pipe overflowed again. Crews are unable to determine an exact cause due to the location of the potential break, and the incredibly high flows that persist through the system.

 

“When you have a historic community, you also have historic infrastructure that can be challenging to work on,” said Webb.

 

“In this case the sewer pipe runs beneath Singer Hill Road and the Grand Staircase below before making a sharp drop down the hill. Between its location and the high water flows, we can’t get a camera in to scope out the problem.”

 

The Public Works team is working with a consulting engineer to determine the best way to move forward.

 

-END-

Oregon City Wastewater Infrastructure Mostly Weathers Storm, One Line Break Occurs At Singer Hill - 12/19/25

Oregon City, ORE. – With the worst of the historic rainfall over, Oregon City crews are evaluating how the wastewater system weathered the storm.

 

Crews were monitoring six pump stations throughout the City during the event. Despite record-breaking flows, there were no sanitary sewer overflows from the pump stations.

 

“We had round the clock monitoring of the stations as this type of inflow is far beyond what the system normally must contend with. Fortunately, the system was able to handle the flows and none of the neighborhood stations overflowed,” said Public Works Director Dayna Webb.

 

One issue that did occur was a sewer main beneath Singer Hill Road in the historic McLoughlin District.

 

An overflow was first reported on Dec. 15, which was determined to have been caused by a blocked pipe.

 

The blockage was cleared and the overflow quickly subsided. The spill was outside of the pedestrian travel zone, and the Grand Staircase remains safe to use.

 

When the next round of record-breaking rainfall came, the pipe overflowed again. Crews are unable to determine an exact cause due to the location of the potential break, and the incredibly high flows that persist through the system.

 

“When you have a historic community, you also have historic infrastructure that can be challenging to work on,” said Webb.

 

“In this case the sewer pipe runs beneath Singer Hill Road and the Grand Staircase below before making a sharp drop down the hill. Between its location and the high water flows, we can’t get a camera in to scope out the problem.”

 

The Public Works team is working with a consulting engineer to determine the best way to move forward.

 

-END-