Skip to main contentWater. Practical, ubiquitous, cheap. The Volkswagen Beetle of the liquid world.
From our ever-burgeoning clouds to our rushing rivers, Portland sees a lot of the stuff, and over time we've come to believe that, like an overly zealous Jehovah's Witness, our water will never go away.
Take this summer, for example. According to the National Weather Service database, Portland has gotten less than half an inch of rain in the past three months, making this one of the driest summers on record. But thanks to a particularly wet spring and the abundance of pristine water that trickles down Mount Hood into the Bull Run reservoirs each year, there's no talk of rationing, no worries about drought.
This aquatic opulence may not last long. Our burg is expected to grow by 60,000 people over the next 20 years. This means the city will need to find a way to supply an additional 1.5 billion gallons of water each year out of an already stressed ecosystem. And if consumption doesn't level off soon, the Portland Water Bureau will have two choices: hack down 400 acres of old-growth forest to make a third Bull Run reservoir, or--make sure you're sitting down before you read this--use the Willamette River for drinking water. ("Top notes of dioxin and lead drift over your tongue, with just a subtle hint of Superfund.")
Water experts would prefer to avoid--or at least delay--both of these prospects by conserving what's coming out of our taps.
"If we're using water wisely, the benefit is that we're not building infrastructure that is of no use to anyone," says Water Bureau spokeswoman Ross Walker. "Plus, why waste it?"
Water conservation is surprisingly painless, and it can yield startling results (see "Money Down the Drain," page 25). For example, if every Portland Water Works customer just converted to Ultra Low Flow toilets, we would save 3.63 billion gallons of water each year--nearly 10 percent of the 38.2 billion gallons Portland uses annually.
Here at WW, we've been doing our part to encourage wise water usage for the past few years by pointing the finger at others and publishing a register of Portland's biggest residential water squanderers. We call them Hydro Hogs.
The methodology behind the list is simple. First, we dispatch a public-records request to the Portland Water Bureau, asking for an inventory of their most hose-happy customers for the last fiscal year--in this case July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003. Then, once the list arrives, several of us gather around the printout and make shrewd, insightful observations about the data.
Sample remark: "I wonder how much macaroni you could cook with that amount of water."
This year's crop hasn't disappointed, with the top user going through more than two million gallons--a Hydro Hog first. All told, the elite 15 went through 10.5 million gallons, which would be sufficient to supply 120 typical homes and is nearly enough to fill the south Mount Tabor reservoir. And by the way, that's enough liquid to make 13.1 million pounds of macaroni. But who's counting?
=repeat offender
1. JORDAN AND MINA SCHNITZER
(2001: NO. 7)
Hillsdale
Gallons used: 2,074,204 (23.1 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $14,552.94.
If poured onto an NBA basketball court, height to which this amount of water would rise: 59 feet.
Jordan Schnitzer, whose water consumption spiked from a mere 820,000 gallons in 2001, blames his astronomical usage over the past 12 months on a particularly tenacious underground leak. "It's really frustrating," the real-estate developer told WW. "I'll bet you 50 percent of the people in this city have leaks they don't know about." Not normally one to scoff at environmental quandaries--his nonprofit gave $5,000 to the salmon-friendly Ecotrust organization last year--Schnitzer recently plunked down $8,500 to have his plumbing system overhauled.
2. JEFF AND SUSAN GRAYSON
Southwest Hills
Gallons used: 940,984 (10.4 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $8,194.30.
Amount of time you could leave a shower going at full blast to go through this amount of water: 145 days, 5 hours.
As the guiding hand behind Capitol Consultants, Jeff Grayson defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars. Now chronically ill, he seems to have pulled another disappearing act. WW couldn't contact Grayson, but his attorney, Greg Veralrud, told WW that the Graysons haven't lived in the home for well over a year. But how could a vacant house use more than enough water to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool? "I can assure you that whatever water usage is occurring there, there must be some malfunction," he said.
3. STEVE ANDERSON
Russell
Gallons used: 751,740 (8.4 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $7,366.86.
Number of packages of Jell-O it would take to turn this amount of water into a giant gelatinous mass: 9,622,272 (it would make a 47-foot jiggling cube).
Anderson did not return WW's calls. When WW paid a visit to Anderson's Northeast Portland home, we were greeted only by yapping dogs and a bumper sticker that read, "Ja Makin' Me Tan!" Anderson's lawn couldn't possibly be more dead, though, leaving the source of his usage a mystery. The Water Bureau says no leaks have been reported.
4. ANDREW WIEDERHORN
(2002: NO. 12)
Southwest Hills
Gallons used: 626,076 (7.0 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $4,263.66.
Weight of this amount of water (5.2 million pounds), measured in live ducks (Mallard, adult male): 1,315,232 duck units.
Andrew Wiederhorn, the high-flying financier whose first business went down in flames alongside Capitol Consultants, declined to comment. Wiederhorn's new firm, Fog Cutter, recently bought out the Fatburger chain from--and we know this sounds like the punchline to a joke, but we swear it's true--Magic Johnson, Cher, David Spade and Janet Jackson. "I think it's great that you're writing your story," he told WW, "but I don't want to talk about it."
5. AILEEN V. ROBERTS
Goose Hollow
Gallons used: 616,352 (6.9 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $6,301.44.
Number of 5-foot-tall snowmen you could build with this amount of water, if frozen: 7,870.
Aileen Roberts is the widow of Bill Roberts, the distinguished Portland businessman and politico who died in 1988 after spearheading several major development projects, including Pioneer Courthouse Square and the Portland building. WW was unable to contact Mrs. Roberts.
6. SCOTT THOMASON
(2001: NO. 6; 2002: NO. 2)
Hillside
Gallons used: 602,888 (6.7 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $3,294.18.
Number of people who could live for one year on this amount of drinking water: 2,643.
When WW called the home of the car czar, a gruff, unidentified man picked up. "You know what?" he told WW before hanging up. "We don't live here anymore. Take care." Thomason and his family recently loaded up the truck and moved to the San Francisco area to start a new auto empire.
7. GREGG AND CHRIS MILLER
( 2001: NO. 15; 2002: NO. 10)
Alameda
Gallons used: 596,156 (6.6 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $2,332.30.
Number of times you'd have to spit to produce this volume of water: 894,234,000 (or once every 5 seconds for about 142 years).
Chris Miller told WW that her family has pulled a threepeat on our list because they reside on an historic one-acre plot of land, replete with two historic trees, historic grass, historic dirt, etc. "You have to take care of them," she said. "It takes water. It's a renewable resource, you know."
8. RALPH SHAW
(2001: NO. 12; 2002: NO. 1)
Southwest Hills
Gallons used: 560,252 (6.2 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $3,689.10.
If this amount of water were transformed into an immense human-proportioned creature called Aquagorth, height he would stand at: 153 feet.
Though he has thrice appeared on our list and even took the hydro-crown last year, Ralph Shaw was nonetheless stunned to hear that his household had cracked the Top 10 once again. "I can't believe it," the prominent venture capitalist told WW. "We don't keep the water on all the time. We must have another leak. We've got to figure out what's going on."
9 (TIE). TED AND DULCY MAHAR
Sellwood-Moreland
Gallons used: 554,268 (6.2 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $4,391.82.
Number of tomatoes that could be grown with this amount of water: 69,284.
Oregonian scribes both, the Mahars tend an enormous garden, to which they sometimes auction off visits for school fundraisers. "If the flowers are droopy, then nobody's happy," Ted Mahar told WW. But the real culprit for the wanton water waste, he says, was a leaky toilet--and a low-flow one, at that. "We discovered that to our horror with our last water bill," he said. "We got a bill that looked like it must have been for Cecil B. DeMille."
9 (TIE). BRUCE AND NANCY FRANSEN
Forest Park
Gallons used: 554,268 (6.2 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $1,982.02.
Number of 40-ounce malt-liquor bottles this amount of water would fill: 1,773,657.
When WW visited the Fransens' home, Bruce was surprised to learn that their water use ranked so high. "We've got a number of new plants here," he said, "and we want to make sure they get water to get them through the hot summer." While leaving, WW noted a few sprinklers trickling unproductively across Fransen's one-acre property.
11. ARTHUR AND JULIA ROUZIE
Arnold Creek
Gallons used: 546,040 (6.1 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $2,877.32.
Number of cups of tea that could be prepared with this amount of water: 8,736,740.
"I'm not surprised," Arthur Rouzie said when WW informed him of his induction into Portland water history. "I've been trying to save some grass and some trees." He soon thought better of talking to WW and declined further comment.
12. JAMES AND SUSAN WINKLER
Goose Hollow
Gallons used: 531,828 (5.9 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $3,870.18.
Number of medium-size water balloons this amount of water would fill: 4,254,624.
James Winkler, the developer behind Portland's kaleidoscopic new Adidas headquarters, reported that their high usage was primarily due to a pesky underground leak. "It's difficult to locate," he said in a message to WW. "We're about to rip up the basement of the house--it's in the foundation work somewhere--and see if we can't find it."
13. HERBERT SEMLER
(2001: NO. 13)
Bridlemile
Gallons used: 528,836 (5.9 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $4,012.98.
Number of wet T-shirt contests that could be held with this amount of water: 17,628.
Herbert Semler, a cardiologist and former owner of Instromedix medical-supply company, did not respond to WW's calls for comment.
14. DAVID EVANS
Northwest Heights
Gallons used: 516,120 (5.8 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $4,752.16.
Number of times you could flush a low-flow toilet with this amount of water: 322,575.
David Evans--a local accountant, not the head of the eminent Portland engineering and design firm--related the tale of his recent costly water-main leak to WW thusly: "There was no warning. Then, all of the sudden, boom!" Evans has since fixed the problem.
15. DONALD AND KATHY FROOM
(2001: NO. 3; 2002: NO. 7)
Bridlemile
Gallons used: 512,380 (5.7 times the typical household).
Estimated water and sewage bill: $2,902.38.
Number of sea monkeys that could live in this amount of water: 655,846,400.
Kathy Froom, the wife of a local nephrologist, told WW that even though they've landed on our list every year, they've been trying their damnedest to edge off. "We did change landscapers," she said. "We want to be serious about this and not use any more water than we really have to." Indeed, their usage has gone down by 250,000 gallons since 2001, saving enough water to boil about 312,500 pounds of macaroni.
This year, we've taken the liberty of estimating our Hogs' water and sewage bills. Under the Water Bureau's three-tiered quarterly rate structure, customers pay $1.64 per unit for the first 36 units of water they use (one unit equals 748 gallons), $1.88 per unit for the next 24, then $2.22 per unit for anything above 60. But it's the sewage bill that's the killer. Using the winter-quarter water bill as a standard (since most of the water we use in the summer goes into our yards, not our drains), customers shell out $4.74 a unit.
MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN
Is that leaky faucet driving you crazy? Quit talking gibberish about the celestial orb and grab a wrench; even a small drip can waste 5,000 gallons over the course of a year. Replacing a couple of washers could save you $10 per leak and priceless peace of mind. Here are a few other simple things you can do to reduce your water bill without suffering any crippling inconvenience.
* Toilets are every home's worst water suckers. If you invest in an Ultra Low Flow toilet, starting at $60 a pop, you'll save as many as 5 gallons per flush--about 4,400 gallons a year per person. Yearly savings quotient: $40 per family of four.
* Conserving water in the shower is easy, and you won't even need to work yourself into a speed-soaping frenzy to bring your washing time down. A low-flow showerhead saves each bather more than 7,000 gallons a year. Yearly savings quotient: $15 per person.
* Lawns only require about an inch of water each week to be happy. Place a tuna can on the grass while watering to ensure you're not overdoing it. And remember: the pavement does not require watering. Yearly savings quotient: $4 per sprinkler.
* When replanting your yard or garden, give native or xeriscape plants a shot. One low-water-use plant can save 550 gallons a year. Yearly savings quotient: $1.50 per shrub.
* Launder your clothes with the future. High-efficiency washing machines use a third as much water as conventional washers, plus you save power and could qualify for a $210 state tax credit. Yearly savings quotient: $30 per family of four.
* For God's sake, turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth. What purpose is it serving? Seriously.... Yearly savings quotient: $10 per person.
Per capita AVERAGE DAILY WATER CONSUMPTION (in gallons) for selected U.S. cities:
Seattle 61
Portland 69
Tampa, Fla. 104
Anchorage, Alaska 140
Oakland, Calif. 150
Los Angeles 150
Atlanta 160
Denver 160
New York 163
Dallas 200
Albuquerque, N.M. 205
Las Vegas 308
WWeek 2015