Portland, Oregon
Bull Run is soft (about 7–11 ppm / 0.5 gpg). Groundwater about 80 ppm / 5 gpg when they use it. Chloramine residual. Private wells in the metro are not the utility's report.
Oregon · Salt-softener legality
- HardnessBull Run 7–11 ppm
- Chloraminechlorine then ammonia
What to do in Portland
Whole-house catalytic carbon for chloramine
No district prohibition on a brine drain turned up.
Catalytic carbon with a chloramine claim (NSF/ANSI 42 for chloramine). Regular chlorine carbon is the wrong box.
The disinfectant is chloramine. A chlorine-only carbon listing is the wrong box.
Amazon lists shipping and returns on that product page. We do not warehouse the equipment.
Also for the kitchen
Under-sink reverse osmosis
Cloud RO is an under-sink reverse osmosis system — NSF/ANSI 58, kitchen tap, not a whole-house tank. The primary button is a tagged Amazon under-sink RO listing. Cloud buy-direct and Waterdrop sit under that. Check the exact listing if PFAS is why you are shopping. A certifier-listed pitcher is the cheap first step.
Buy Cloud RO directShop Waterdrop reverse osmosisShop PFAS-listed pitchers
Some links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission. That does not change the match, and it is not a medical claim.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Other options that still fit
Do not buy a softener on this supply
This supply is soft on the published numbers. A salt tank is usually the wrong box unless you are on a well or a different utility. Test the tap before you buy hardness equipment.
Softener vs carbon vs under-sink RO
A sketch for Portland, tied to the best match above. Not a quote.
| Box | What it does | Ballpark (estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| Salt-based softener | Removes hardness. Needs a drain. Illegal in some sewer districts. | About $800–$2,500 for a common residential unit (equipment). Installed jobs run higher. |
| Whole-house carbonBest match | Chlorine or chloramine taste — match the listing. Does not soften. | About $400–$1,800 for a typical tank-and-head kit (equipment). |
| Under-sink reverse osmosisBest match | Kitchen tap. Check NSF/ANSI 58 if PFAS or nitrate is why you are shopping. | About $200–$600 on Amazon search; named under-sink units vary. |
These are ballpark equipment ranges, not installed quotes and not what a dealer will write on a kitchen-table sheet. Prices move. Confirm the sewer rule before you price a brine tank.
On the report
- Water utility
- Portland Water Bureau
- Hardness
- Bull Run (typical supply): 7–11 ppm total hardness, about ½ grain per gallon. Columbia South Shore groundwater: about 80 ppm / 5 gpg. April 2026 supplemental table: Bull Run hardness 6.6 ppm (0.39 gpg). — Portland Water Bureau 2025 and 2026 Drinking Water Quality Reports; Drinking water test results page; Supplemental Water Quality Data April 2026
- Disinfectant
- Chlorine, then ammonia to form chloramine. Target entry-point chlorine about 2.2–2.5 mg/L by season. Total chlorine residual is what they report. — Portland Water Bureau 2025/2026 Drinking Water Quality Reports; About Portland’s drinking water quality
- Sanitation district
- City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
- Brine / salt to the sewer
- No district prohibition found in current research. No Portland BES prohibition comparable to LACSD Measure S turned up. On Bull Run water a salt softener is usually the wrong machine anyway. Private wells in Clackamas or Washington County are not this sewer search.
How to get your water tested
The report on this page is for the public water system. It is not a test of the faucet in one house. Pipes inside a house can change the water.
For a test of your own tap, use a laboratory on the Oregon Health Authority list of certified drinking-water labs.
If your water comes from a private well, test it once a year. A city water report does not cover a private well.
Also around here
Extra context besides the utility report and the chart above — geology, an unregulated table, or a published study. Not a second set of printed tap numbers.
- MicroplasticsWHO’s 2019 review examined studies that found microplastic particles in treated tap and bottled water in many places. That is a published-occurrence finding, not a number from this city’s water-quality report, and we do not invent a particles-per-liter count for the tap.Microplastics in drinking-water — World Health Organization
- LeadPortland Water Bureau says lead at the tap comes from home plumbing, not Bull Run source water, and they publish Lead and Copper Rule tap sampling. That is plumbing-at-the-tap sampling, not a plant finished-water average.Oregon Health Authority Data Online for PWS 00657 lists June 2025 90th-percentile lead 0.0049 mg/L at sampled taps — the LCR statistic, not every address.2026 Drinking Water Quality Report — Portland Water Bureau
- PFASEPA’s Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule required community systems this size to test 29 PFAS and lithium in 2023–2025. Open the UCMR 5 Data Finder for this PWS. We do not invent a detection.Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Questions we can answer from the report
How hard is Portland tap water?
Bull Run (typical supply): 7–11 ppm total hardness, about ½ grain per gallon. Columbia South Shore groundwater: about 80 ppm / 5 gpg. April 2026 supplemental table: Bull Run hardness 6.6 ppm (0.39 gpg). Source: Portland Water Bureau 2025 and 2026 Drinking Water Quality Reports; Drinking water test results page; Supplemental Water Quality Data April 2026.
Does Portland use chlorine or chloramine?
Chlorine, then ammonia to form chloramine. Target entry-point chlorine about 2.2–2.5 mg/L by season. Total chlorine residual is what they report. Source: Portland Water Bureau 2025/2026 Drinking Water Quality Reports; About Portland’s drinking water quality.
Is a salt-based water softener legal in Portland?
No district prohibition found. No Portland BES prohibition comparable to LACSD Measure S turned up. On Bull Run water a salt softener is usually the wrong machine anyway. Private wells in Clackamas or Washington County are not this sewer search. No district prohibition on a brine drain turned up. This is not a legal opinion.
What should I do about Portland tap water?
Whole-house catalytic carbon for chloramine. Catalytic carbon with a chloramine claim (NSF/ANSI 42 for chloramine). Regular chlorine carbon is the wrong box. If the job is drinking water at the kitchen, under-sink reverse osmosis is the usual path. Cloud RO is the preferred Amazon listing on this site (tag tapmatch-20). We do not claim we use it.
Sources
- 2025 Drinking Water Quality Report — Portland Water Bureau. Accessed 2026-08-31.
Updated August 31, 2026. Numbers here are what the utility's report or the state record printed, plus the sewer rule. No invented detections.