The City of Bend is one of three water suppliers within the UGB. The city’s water system in 2021 included about 25,500 service connections. Since 1926, the City of Bend’s primary source of water has been from the Bend Municipal Watershed. This water originates on the eastern slopes of Ball Butte and Broken Top Mountain about 20 miles west of Bend in a protected watershed area, which lies within the Deschutes National Forest.

The Bend Municipal Watershed has excellent water quality, considering both chemical and bacteriological quality with only chlorination treatment. The water is a consistent 48°F winter and summer, and is clear with the exception of slight turbidity during period of high runoff from the watershed. These periods occur only occasionally, and last only a few days. The 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act required that all surface water systems in the nation provide filtration which the City added to comply with these rules in 2016. The Bend Municipal source can deliver up to 11.6 million gallons per day per USFS Special Use permit and City Ordinance (limits diversion to 18.2 cfs). The City supplements the surface water supply with groundwater from the Deschutes Regional Aquifer.

The 2021 Water PFP includes tabular and narrative data that describes the City’s existing water system, its components and their existing condition, and annual water use. The City’s existing water system consists of the surface water intake facility, a water filtration facility (WFF), 8 groundwater facilities consisting of 20 active wells, 15 finished water storage reservoirs, 6 active booster pump stations, approximately 440 miles of transmission and distribution mains, nearly 10 miles of raw water pipeline, and associated appurtenances including various valves, hydrants, and meters. The system includes six primary pressure zones with an additional twenty-three subzones.

The city water system historically provided metered service for industrial, commercial, and multi-unit developments. However, the city was one of the last major water systems in the state to use flat rate (non-metered) billing for residential service connections. As of December 2004, the City has become fully metered for all customers. This included conversion to automated meter reading technology, as well as installation of premise isolation cross connection protection at every service connection as part of our Safe Drinking Water Program. In 2021, the City updated its required Water Management and Conservation Plan (WMCP) which outlines various conservation related benchmarks, in order to meet conditions by the Oregon Water Resources Department as part of obtaining new and maintaining existing water rights to meet the needs of growth.

The city’s 2021 Water PFP identifies water supply, transmission, and storage needs throughout the city’s service territory within the UGB. This 2021 Water PFP also includes this information for the respective services areas of the Avion Water Company and Roats Water Company. Additional wells, reservoirs, main transmission lines, and smaller distribution lines will be needed to meet the projected urban area growth.