PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Portland City Council green-lit a $2.5 million plan to replace an aging motor for the city’s backup water supply.

The groundwater pump station at Columbia South Shore Well Field supplies drinking water when the Bull Run supply is not available, but the Portland Water Bureau said parts for the pump station are no longer made and remain 10 years past their expected useful life.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said such repairs need to be a higher priority.

“This is make or break,” Wheeler said. “If we don’t have Bull Run online for any reason and we cannot get our pumps to function, we do not have water.”  

Team Electric, a company in Clackamas, will work on the project.