Oregon’s rivers see progress due to Clean Water Act Advocates, businesses, students call for more “waterways restored”

Media Contacts
Thomas Moosbrugger

Environment Oregon

OREGON- On the heels of the 42nd anniversary of the Clean Water Act, a new report tells the story of how the bedrock environmental law has helped to restore and protect the Willamette River. Once so polluted that salmon fingerlings placed in the river died within 15 minutes, the Willamette is on its way back to health, thanks in part to enforcement of water quality standards required by the Clean Water Act. Today, after 20 years of effort, the volume of sewage overflows to the river has been cut by 94 percent, allowing Oregonians to once again swim in the Willamette.

Environment Oregon, Alan Bates, Oregon State Senator from District 3, and Brett Gallagher, co-owner of Cascadia Expeditions, released a report this morning entitled “Waterways Restored,” a series of case studies compiled by Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center, in Portland, Eugene, and Ashland to highlight the need for a new rule to restore protections to 53% of the state’s streams.

“The Clean Water Act has brought noticeable progress to Oregon’s rivers, but the law’s promise isn’t yet fulfilled,” said Charlotte Bromley, campaign organizer with Environment Oregon.  “All of our rivers and streams deserve a success story.”

Once so polluted that salmon fingerlings placed in the river died within 15 minutes, the Willamette River is on its way back to health, thanks in part to enforcement of water quality standards required by the Clean Water Act. Today, after 20 years of effort, the volume of sewage overflows to the river has been cut by 94 percent, allowing Oregonians to once again swim in the Willamette, according to the Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center report.
“On the 42nd anniversary of the Clean Water Act, we take a moment to reflect on the clean lakes and rivers we have today, and give appreciation to the people and standards that makes this possible,” said Oregon’s Senator Alan Bates from District 3, Medford.

While the Willamette is guaranteed protection under the Clean Water Act, 61,000 miles of Oregon’s streams are not, thanks to a loophole in the law secured by developers and other polluters nearly a decade ago.

In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule to restore protections for the headwaters, streams, and wetlands left in limbo by the loophole. But oil companies, agribusinesses, and developers are campaigning bitterly against it, and last month the U.S. House voted to block the rule.     

Advocates at today’s event, however, stressed broad support for the proposal from environmental groups, farmers, small businesses, and ordinary citizens. More than 200,000 public comments supporting the rule, including over 26,000 from Oregon, were delivered to EPA officials today in Washington, D.C.

“I make my living off of clean waters. We have beautiful wild and scenic rivers here in Oregon, and that’s because of the Clean Water Act. The Willamette was once so polluted that people treated it as an open sewer, and now I’m able to take groups of school kids there to look at the macro ecology of the bugs and critters that live in the water; and that’s because people care and put provisions in place to protect these natural environments,” said Brett Gallagher, co-owner of the outdoor adventure group Cascadia Expeditions.

While the Willamette is getting cleaner, polluters still dump over 1.2 million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways statewide each year. Protection from pollution and development for the smaller streams that flow into our rivers, advocates said today, is crucial to protecting them for future generations.

“The only way to keep the Willamette and other rivers across Oregon on the path to success is protect all of the rivers and streams that flow into them,” said Bromley. “That’s why it’s so important for EPA to restore protections to all of the waters that crisscross our state.”

You can find the report in its entirety here.

###

Environment Oregon is a citizen-funded environmental advocacy organization representing 30,000 Oregonians. Our mission is to protect clean air, clean water, and open space. Our professional staff combines independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to win real results for Oregon’s environment. Environment Oregon draws on 30 years of success in tackling our state’s top environmental problems.