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Kulongoski seeks funds to study Willamette pollution
Monday, December 11, 2006 | 1 comment(s)
SALEM (AP) - A decade after a worrisome report, environmentalists hope to learn more about toxic levels in the Willamette River.
The Department of Environmental Quality wants $1.9 million to start monitoring the Willamette for potentially toxic pollutants such as pesticides and trace metals.
The amount is in the budget Gov. Ted Kulongoski has proposed to the 2007 Legislature.
Details of the monitoring - such as where and how often to check for which contaminants - has yet to be determined.
The DEQ says toxic pollution can come from runoff that washes oil and chemicals from parking lots, roads and rural lands, soil erosion, industrial and city discharges, and even air pollution from around the world.
Traces of mercury in the river have been blamed partly on air from China.
A 1995 study said that Tetra Tech, a consulting firm for the DEQ from Redmond, Wash., had made recommendations for toxic chemical monitoring in 1993.
In 1996 the U.S. government issued a report by the U.S. Geological Survey showing “pesticides and trace metals” in Willamette Valley streams including the river.
The report showed there was a “potential for localized, short-term exceedances” of state standards for aquatic life, “but concentrations are low overall,” according to a December 1996 press release from the Geological Survey office in Portland.
But the report also said there are no established excessive levels for most of the pesticides found in the water.
Trace metals such as copper, chromium, lead and zinc had been found mostly at sites getting runoff from cities. At the time there had been concerns about deformities found in some Willamette River fish.
Later studies showed the deformities were caused by two kinds of natural parasites. In 1997, a task force appointed by former Gov. John Kitzhaber made several recommendations to reduce river pollution, including one to increase monitoring of pollutants in and near the river.
In 2000, Willamette Riverkeeper issued a warning that based on discharge records, toxic compounds in the river had nearly doubled in the previous five years.
The Department of Environmental Quality wants $1.9 million to start monitoring the Willamette for potentially toxic pollutants such as pesticides and trace metals.
The amount is in the budget Gov. Ted Kulongoski has proposed to the 2007 Legislature.
Details of the monitoring - such as where and how often to check for which contaminants - has yet to be determined.
The DEQ says toxic pollution can come from runoff that washes oil and chemicals from parking lots, roads and rural lands, soil erosion, industrial and city discharges, and even air pollution from around the world.
Traces of mercury in the river have been blamed partly on air from China.
A 1995 study said that Tetra Tech, a consulting firm for the DEQ from Redmond, Wash., had made recommendations for toxic chemical monitoring in 1993.
In 1996 the U.S. government issued a report by the U.S. Geological Survey showing “pesticides and trace metals” in Willamette Valley streams including the river.
The report showed there was a “potential for localized, short-term exceedances” of state standards for aquatic life, “but concentrations are low overall,” according to a December 1996 press release from the Geological Survey office in Portland.
But the report also said there are no established excessive levels for most of the pesticides found in the water.
Trace metals such as copper, chromium, lead and zinc had been found mostly at sites getting runoff from cities. At the time there had been concerns about deformities found in some Willamette River fish.
Later studies showed the deformities were caused by two kinds of natural parasites. In 1997, a task force appointed by former Gov. John Kitzhaber made several recommendations to reduce river pollution, including one to increase monitoring of pollutants in and near the river.
In 2000, Willamette Riverkeeper issued a warning that based on discharge records, toxic compounds in the river had nearly doubled in the previous five years.
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