Problems
Polluted waterways in Oregon
Seventy-seven rivers and creeks of at least 80 km in total length are the longest streams in the U.S. state of Oregon. All of these streams originate in the United States except the longest, the Columbia, which begins in the Canadian province of British Columbia and flows 2,010 km to the sea near Astoria. The second-longest, the Snake River, which at 1,735 km. The Rogue River in southwestern Oregon in the United States flows about 346 km in a generally westward direction from the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean. Known for its salmon runs, whitewater rafting, and rugged scenery. An environmental group found that Oregon has the most miles of rivers and streams that do not meet water quality standards The report by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit headquartered in Washington D.C, said that 80% of those waterways threaten aquatic life, making Oregon the worst nationwide in that category. Oregon has more than 310,000 miles of rivers and streams according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, nearly two-thirds of which are intermittent, forming only seasonally. Warming in Oregon waters caused by climate change has made many rivers and streams uninhabitable for certain fish populations. However, reports by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that a bigger factor in the warming is caused by logging, farming and shrinking streams and rivers from overuse of the water. Raw domestic sewage from cities and wastes from pulp mills, paper mills, and other industrial sites produced the greatest volumes of pollutants. The most common contaminants in well water are nitrate, bacteria, arsenic, and pesticides. This contamination can come from failing septic tanks, fertilizers, livestock waste, and poorly constructed or maintained wells on a homeowner's property or property nearby. Oregon Has The Most Polluted Or ‘Impaired’ Waterways Nationwide.
Gallery
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Timelines
2023
September
At the hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, the senator pointed to OPB’s reporting on two regions: In Eastern Oregon where more than 4,000 wells are at risk from decades of nitrate pollution by agricultural interests, and in Central Oregon, where dozens of people blame a gravel mine for sudden plumbing disasters and health concerns. Rural well owners don’t benefit from federal infrastructure investments reserved for public water systems. That’s as roughly one-quarter of Oregonians get their drinking water from private wells, which aren’t regulated by the state. Homeowners are responsible for their testing to rule out contamination. In Crook County, a smaller contingent of residents are on their own to try and identify the source of high manganese levels in the well water. Depending on the concentration, this metal can cause a range of problems, from stained laundry to liver issues and neurological dysfunction.
August
Oregon natural resource leaders said they found evidence of environmental violations during Winchester Dam repairs that left hundreds of thousands of lamprey dead and resulted in environmental violations. The privately owned Winchester Dam north of Roseburg underwent repairs in August for the third time in a decade. The work took several weeks longer than planned and involved draining a reservoir behind the dam that triggered an emergency fish salvage operation and drew the ire of conservationists who have long wanted the dam decommissioned.
March
The Environmental Protection Agency is urging Oregon to clean up water contamination from nitrates in the eastern part of the state, warning it could step in under the Safe Drinking Water Act in the absence of sufficient local action. It’s been three decades since state agencies first noted high levels of nitrate contamination in the groundwater in Morrow and Umatilla counties, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported, and residents have long complained that the pollution is negatively impacting their health. Environmental groups say that large-scale livestock and agriculture operations are largely to blame for the contamination. Nitrate levels exceeding 10 milligrams per liter can cause serious health risks if consumed, according to the EPA. In some cases, home tests by area residents have shown nitrates at four to five times that level. High levels of nitrates can lead to increased heart rate, headaches, stomach cramps and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which lists fertilizers, septic systems, animal feedlots and industrial waste as common sources of nitrate pollution. The state and a local committee have worked on voluntary measures to reduce the contamination. But nitrate levels in the area’s main source of drinking water have steadily increased and no mandatory action has been taken to begin cleanup, OPB reported. Residents are calling for stronger action and Oregon Rural Action is treating the situation as an emergency. The EPA has asked the state to conduct more well testing to better understand the source and extent of the contamination and whose wells are affected.
2022
According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, 95% of them in Oregon are too polluted to be used for drinking. According to maps from the state Department of Environmental Quality, pollution in Oregon's waterways is most visible in the western half of the state and in the northeastern part of the state.
1969
Low oxygen levels related to pollution were preventing the upstream migration of salmon on the Willamette. The fish was able to continue only after Governor Tom McCall, the OSSA chairman, ordered the temporary closure of four sulfite mills along the river. The Oregon Legislative Assembly replaced OSSA with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Its responsibilities include protecting the state's air quality as well as its water quality; managing solid- and hazardous-waste disposal; helping with contamination cleanup, and enforcing the state's environmental laws.
1948
Oregon State Sanitary Authority (OSSA) had induced communities along the river to install sewage treatment plants. However, the agency had less success with mill owners, who resisted pollution controls on grounds of the expense.Of particular concern were sulfite process mills that discharged plumes of waste that were deadly to many aquatic plants and animals.
1938
Oregon voters, by a three-to-one margin, approved an initiative to regulate water pollution and to create an enforcement agency under the jurisdiction of the Oregon State Board of Health.
1920
The Board of Health, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Izaak Walton League, and others had expressed concerns about water pollution and its threats to human health. Pollution had caused many fish kills on the Willamette River, and Portland, on the lower river, had often closed its part of the Willamette to swimming because of sewage in the water. The Oregon State Sanitary Authority (OSSA) was the first agency in the U.S. state of Oregon that was charged with protecting the environment.