The City of Hood River’s water is of extremely high quality from a pristine groundwater source consisting of three springs located approximately 15 miles southwest of town on the slopes of Mount Hood. Cold Spring, Stone Spring I, and Stone Spring II are located on approximately 23 acres of City-owned property near Lost Lake. It is estimated that the springs can continuously provide at least 10 million gallons of water per day. They currently providing up to five million gallons of water per day, which is carried from the source to the City’s primary five-million gallon reservoir in a 14-inch steel transmission main that was constructed in 1929. From the five-million gallon reservoir, the water travels through approximately three more miles of parallel 14-inch and 16-inch mains to serve the City’s distribution system and two more reservoirs. The three reservoirs provide a total of nearly six million gallons of storage capacity for fire-fighting and service outages.
The City of Hood River’s sewer collection system is comprised of over 40 miles of sewer mains and appurtenant facilities including seven sanitary sewer lift stations located within the Hood River Urban Growth Area (UGA). The system has been expanded to the southeast and to the west within the UGA in response to rapid urban development that has occurred over the past several years. In 2008, Hood River County will connect the Wind Master area, located south of Hood River and outside the UGA, to the City of Hood River system following that area’s designation as a health hazard area due to failing septic systems.