Operation of the Carl A. McClain Filtration Plant at Eugene, Oregon

Abstract

The filtration plant at Eugene is named to honor the late Carl A. McClain who for 14 years was General Superintendent-Secretary of the Eugene Water Board. Mr. McClain died suddenly on the day the plant was completed and ready for test, August 5, 1932. This plant of concrete construction with 12 million gallons daily capacity was built to replace a wooden one that had reached the limit of its capacity and had developed weakness in the wooden settling tanks. It cost $205,000.00 including the value of the land and the equipment moved over from the old plant. It was designed by Stevens and Koon, consulting engineers, of Portland. The plant is owned by the City of Eugene and operated by the Eugene Water Board, Eugene's commission of water and light. The Water Board also operates two hydroelectric plants, located on the McKenzie river, and a standby steam electric plant in Eugene adjoining the filtration plant. Eugene got its start in the utility business in 1908, when it was forced to take over the water system as the result of a typhoid fever epidemic. A filtration plant, described as modern, was built soon after and served the city very well for about 23 years. The first hydro-electric plant was built primarily to provide power for pumping and for street lighting, but it was not long until some of the surplus power was being distributed to industrial plants and to domestic