EUGENE WATER  &  ELECTRIC  BOARD

In the early part of the 20th century, the public grew increasingly dissatisfied with the private, for-profit water utility serving the community. When a 1906 typhoid fever epidemic was traced to the water supply, Eugene's citizens overwhelmingly supported municipal ownership of the water system.

In 1908, Eugene voters approved $300,000 in bonds to purchase the private water utility and establish a municipally owned water system. In 1911, the Eugene Water Board began operations.

The Eugene City Council ordered the construction of a hydroelectric power plant that would power the pumps necessary to ensure adequate water pressure. When the Walterville Hydroelectric Plant on the McKenzie River was completed in 1911, the City Council transferred control of the utility to a separate citizen board.

Electricity that wasn't needed to power the water pumps and city streetlights was sold to the community in competition with the existing private electric utility. In 1916, the board purchased the private Oregon Power Company's electric system, positioning the utility as the full-service provider it is today.

The Eugene Planing Mill on Lawrence Street, (currently the site of the REI store), became the public utility's first electric customer.

Over the years, Eugene citizens have approved bond measures or other initiatives authorizing the utility to invest in a number of additional energy resources, including the steam plant and Leaburg Dam in the 1930s, the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project on the upper McKenzie in the late 1950s, and more recently, a wind farm in southeastern Wyoming.

The water system also has expanded as Eugene has grown. EWEB's Hayden Bridge Filtration Plant, one of the largest full-treatment filtration plants in the Northwest, was built in the early 1950s. A 15-million-gallon reservoir and other improvements were completed on the site in 2003. The plant now can treat about 75 million gallons of water a day.

The utility's name was changed to the Eugene Water & Electric Board in 1949, reflecting its broader role.