Sprol

The city of Portland, Oregon has had a long history of pouring raw sewage into the Williamette River that continues to this day. Once considered dead in the 1960s, the river is now slowly recovering with the assistance of local citizens.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has fined the city of Portland $449,800 for numerous raw sewage overflows into the Willamette River and several streams that flow into the Willamette.
A total of 67 discharges over a period of about four and a half years occurred from the city’s sewage collection system at multiple locations throughout Portland. Discharges also were reported to the Columbia River and Columbia Slough. The 67 discharges totaled about 1,875,000 gallons of sewage.
Portland Business Journal Nov 21 2005

Although the Clean Water Act was passed over 30 years ago to protect and restore water quality, approximately 40 percent of the nation’s assessed waters are unsafe for fish, wildlife, and people. In some areas the problems are more widespread: nearly 80 percent of Oregon’s waters are too warm for salmon; 97 percent of the Great Lakes shorelines are impaired by chemicals. These unsafe pollution levels reflect harmful land practices, excessive water withdrawals, pollution from industries and cities, air deposition of chemicals, and waste disposal.Northwest Environmental Advocates

There is a plaque installed by the Portland Development Commission overlooking the Willamette River near Portland’s RiverPlace Marina that states that the Willamette was made clean for swimming in 1972. It is more than ironic that just below this plaque is a “Combined Sewer Overflow” or CSO. The lingo masks the fact: this is a pipe from which raw sewage, sometimes mixed with storm water, flows into the Willamette River.

There’s a lot of raw sewage, human excrement, industrial wastes, condoms, syringes, tampons, toilet paper and the toxic pollution from city streets- in our local rivers. The City of Portland discharges completely untreated sewage from over 56 pipes and concrete bunkers into the Willamette River and the Columbia Slough.

The end result is that, contrary to the statement on the plaque, the Willamette never was made fit for swimming. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) data shows that the lower Willamette sometimes is, and sometimes isn’t, safe. DEQ calls this “partially supported” for water contact. What all of this really means is that you’ll never knows which days are safe and which aren’t. (Some days, it is a lot less safe than others!)

The fact is that river users are not told that these pipes are dumping raw sewage into the rivers and that they should be careful. Careful not to step on the syringes, careful not to touch the water, careful not to put hands to mouth after touching the water. And there’s an awful lot of water contact that goes on even if you aren’t swimming, wading or water skiing.
Freshwater News, May 1991 By Nina Bell

When it passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, Congress created a regulatory program to clean up and protect water quality. The law requires that where too much pollution is entering a stream, all sources must restrict their contribution of pollution and habitat damage to the extent necessary to meet water quality standards.
Northwest Environmental Advocates

In 1985, the Willamette/Slough system contained 56 pipes and concrete bunkers discharging raw sewage, industrial wastes, and toxic pollutants from city streets, into the urban waterways. Despite complaints from citizens, in 1990 the Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) still poured billions of gallons of rainwater runoff and sewage annually into the Willamette River and the Columbia Slough.
source

Since last June there have been three times when filthy and stinking SEWER WATER has backed up into basements of residents. . . In September we suffered 6 inches of foul stinking filthy sewer water covering our entire basement floor. Petitions were signed by more than 600 people urging the City to DO something — they did nothing!! Then Jan 22nd, just last month, we this time had 12 inches of the same filth in our basement. . . . NOW, WE DEMAND THAT SOMETHING BE DONE ABOUT IT!!
Loren C. Mabee, north Portland resident, 1970 source