Why Sellwood faces water damage risk
A former-town infrastructure angle unique to Sellwood among Portland’s annexed neighborhoods.
Sellwood operated as an independent town before being annexed into Portland.
The neighborhood’s antique district reflects its long commercial history along the Willamette.
Many single-family lots retain original supply lines from the neighborhood’s town-era development.
Legacy town-era infrastructure built to an earlier, smaller-town standard combined with riverside low elevation and higher water table conditions means older single-family supply lines here face real age- and elevation-driven water-damage risk.