How much is this decision being driven by the growth of the city?

More people and businesses mean more wastewater, but the amount of treated wastewater we can discharge has been set since the 1990s by the Three Basin Rule. That limits the amount that can be discharged into the Clackamas, Santiam, and McKenzie river basins. So even though our population makes up a tiny fraction of the people that live in those basins, we are limited by how much treated wastewater we can discharge into them. Even if the City remains the same size, existing property owners would retain the right to add, develop, and expand their properties.