in other words
february6
2020
7
A Word From the Watershed:
Water Quality Is Everyone’s Responsibility
By Corrie Aiuto
The Upper Nehalem Watershed
Council welcomes you to a new year and
a new decade! This month we will cover
a topic that is timeless and relevant to-
day: water quality. Clean, fresh water is
a precious resource, necessary for life,
easily taken for granted, and consistently
degraded by human use. Learning about
how we pollute our water and how to
reduce our impact is vital to preserving
our freshwater resources for human and
aquatic life.
To understand how much hu-
mans impact water quality we must first
look at our water sources. The United
States Geological Survey estimates that
over 96% of all water on Earth is salt-
water and of the approximately 2.5%
freshwater, most is locked in polar ice,
glaciers, permanent snow, and ground-
water. That means less than 1% of less
than 3% of all water resources exist on
Earth’s surface in lakes, rivers, and wet-
lands. The surface freshwater we rely on
to sustain life is replenished by rainfall,
snowmelt, and underground aquifers.
water. Before water is treated it can con-
tain sediment, organic matter, bacteria,
and many other substances. Some of
these are benign and may even be bene-
ficial, such as certain minerals, but some
can be harmful in high enough concen-
trations.
In 2012, the Oregon Health Au-
thority and the Department of Environ-
mental Quality tested 14 drinking water
sources in the Vernonia area – seven
groundwater and seven surface water.
Their results showed that out of over
230 chemicals tested for, 12 were detect-
ed, all in low concentrations that posed
no significant health risks. Included in
the findings were cholesterol and e.coli
that are all found in human and animal
waste. Overall, even considering the 12
chemicals detected, we are in a fortunate
location and our fresh water sources are
fairly clean.
Our city drinking water is
pumped from Rock Creek into the wa-
ter treatment plant. There sediment is
filtered out and the water treated with
chlorine to kill harmful bacteria. Then
it is pumped into reservoirs where it sits
Water Distribution Graph, United States Geological Survey
Here in Vernonia, our rivers
and streams are mostly replenished by
rainfall and groundwater seepage with
snowmelt contributing little. Many
households in and around Vernonia have
access to city water, which is pumped
from Rock Creek, and others utilize well
until it is drawn out by city users turning
on their faucets. Once humans use that
water, whether by washing our clothes
or bodies, hydrating us or our pets, or
even watering our gardens, things get
decidedly less clean.
Humans deposit many substanc-
Meyer’s
Auto Body
ugly parts of your vegetables.
• Use the minimum amount of soaps and
detergents. Choose phosphate free deter-
gents.
• Reduce fertilizers, herbicides, and pes-
ticides by using them only as a last re-
sort. Contact Chip Bubl with the OSU
Columbia County Extension Service in
St. Helens for alternatives.
• Keep your vehicles well maintained to
reduce oil and fuel use.
• Take 10 minute showers instead of 20.
• Repair and repurpose clothes rather
than buying new. Take pride in conserv-
ing; look for new and creative ways to
reuse and reduce.
2. Dispose of things properly. Know-
ing how, when, and where to dispose of
wastes can have a significant positive
impact on our environment.
• Compost non-meat food waste.
• Live by the rule that if you’re unsure
if something is safe to go down a drain
or a toilet, don’t dump or flush. Cooking
grease should be captured and put into
the garbage, never the sink. Chemicals,
automotive fluids, and paints should be
treated as hazardous waste and segre-
gated. The Columbia County Transfer
Station in St. Helens accepts electron-
ics, batteries, oil, paint, and many other
items for free. Call (503) 397-9811 for
disposal details.
• Recycle properly. Make sure you are
following guidelines for recyclables.
• Take old prescription and over-the-
counter medications to drug take-back
facilities. The City of Vernonia Police
Department has a green drop box in City
Hall for old and unused pharmaceuticals
(they do not accept medical sharps or
liquids).
It can be difficult to take greater
responsibility for our own environmen-
tal impact; once we begin to learn about
all the ways humans alter the Earth it can
seem an enormous and impossible task
to change for the better. But when each
of us tries, even a little, we make a posi-
tive impact.
For more information about the Upper
Nehalem Watershed Council and our
work, questions about water quality, or
concerns contact us at (503) 429-0869
or visit our website at unwc.nehalem.
org.
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extra mile
for you
493 Bridge Street
VERNONIA • 503-429-0248
es into the water, oftentimes unwittingly.
Soaps and detergents, pesticides and her-
bicides, food scraps, cosmetics, lotions
and fragrances, prescription and over-
the-counter drugs, automobile fluids,
and plastics are just a few of the materi-
als found in our water that only humans
produce. Identifying potential sources
of pollution is sometimes easy and ob-
vious, like laundry or dish soap, which
wash away in wastewater. Other chemi-
cals, such as pesticides, are washed by
the rain into streams, groundwater, or
wastewater systems making it difficult
to trace and remedy. Things like unme-
tabolized pharmaceuticals pass through
the human body and when flushed down
the toilet, encounter sewer treatment
systems unequipped to remove them
from the water.
Treating wastewater is an im-
portant, yet imperfect task. Wastewater
treatment facilities are quite sophisti-
cated, but are still not able to capture,
remove, or treat for all substances. In-
gredients in pharmaceuticals and per-
sonal care products (often referred to
as PPCPs or PCPs) can be particularly
difficult to remove along with industrial,
energy, and manufacturing waste.
Contaminated water is danger-
ous to human and aquatic life in many
ways. Pollutants damage neurological,
reproductive, respiratory, or hormonal
systems and some have been linked to
cancer. Some substances are biodegrad-
ed within a few days while others re-
main in the water indefinitely due to the
strength of their chemical bonds; an ex-
ample of these are per- and polyfluoro-
alkyl substances (PFAS). Used in non-
stick cookware, waterproof clothing,
and firefighting foam, they are known as
“forever chemicals.”
We as individuals and as a com-
munity must embrace practices that pro-
tect our water sources from pollution
and maintain good water quality. It is
important that we each think about how
we use our water, what products we use,
and what condition the water is in when
we send it downstream. Here are just a
few tips to keeping our water cleaner:
1. Reduce. Much good can come from
simply reducing our consumption of re-
sources.
• Reusable coffee cups, water bottles,
and produce bags reduce plastic waste.
• Reduce cooking waste by using the
• chains • antifreeze • winter tires mounted & balanced
• wipers • generators • kerosene • flashlights • boots
• batteries • lamp oil • gas cans • candles • propane
Family owned & operated
for over 50 years
834 Bridge St., Vernonia
(503) 429-6364