Boardman, OR – The first of two massive lagoons at the Port of Morrow to store water for reuse is now being commissioned and put into service. The second lagoon is nearing completion.
Combined, the two lagoons will hold 1.6 billion gallons of water sent to the Port from local food processors, industries and data centers.
Construction of the new lagoons is essential to meet stricter Department of Environmental Quality requirements that include a ban on winter-season land application of the Port’s reuse water starting November 1.
The lagoons are part of a larger, multi-million-dollar project to enhance the Port’s processing of industrial wastewater for beneficial agricultural reuse. Anaerobic digesters are already in place and advance planning is underway for a secondary water treatment system.
“The Port accelerated the timeline for construction of the lagoons by a full year in order to provide additional time to plan for secondary treatment of water that is used for land application,” explained Port Executive Director Lisa Mittelsdorf. “The key deliverable was having the storage capacity to eliminate winter land application of our reuse water by November 1.”
Industrial water that contains nutrients is processed by the Port, then piped to nearby farms to reuse the water and nutrients to grow crops in lieu of farmers using other water sources and chemical fertilizers. Plants need nitrogen and other minerals in their growing cycle.