®1'* $îortlanh (Observer
Page 10
July 27. 2011
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photo by M ark
W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Portland is seeing success in keeping sewage out of the Willamette River with a system to keep rain runoff separate from sewage flows. Sewer dumps went unabated
for 100 years before the city built a treatment plant in 1951.
Safe for Swimming
co n tin u ed
fr o m fr o n t
An annual report presented by
the City o f P o rtla n d ’s E n v iro n m en ­
tal Services in Jan u ary said the
projects com pleted to date have a l­
ready reduced C om bined Sew age
O verflow volume into the W illamette
R iver by about tw o thirds.
“ E v e n th o u g h w e still h av e
a b o u t 5 0 C S O s p e r y ear, th e v o l­
um e h as been re d u c e d d ra m a ti­
c a lly by o u r p ro je c ts ,” he said .
“ S o th at m ean s b a c te ria le v els in
the riv e rs are lo w e r than they used
to b e .”
A c c o rd in g to M an n , o n c e the
p ro je c t is c o m p le te th e re is e x ­
p e c te d to be ju s t fo u r sew e r o v e r­
flo w s e v e ry w in te r, and one e v ery
th ird su m m er.
T h e p ro je c t h as in c lu d e d the
c o n stru c tio n o f sev e n tu n n e l a c ­
c ess sh afts, new c o n n e c tin g p ip e ­
lin es a n d the P o rtsm o u th F o rce
M ain , w h ich w ill c h a n n e l sew ag e
fro m the S w an Isla n d P u m p S ta ­
tio n to the C o lu m b ia B o u le v ard
W a ste w a te r T re a tm e n t P lant.
A c c o rd in g to the a g en c y , e x ­
p o su re to th e b a c te ria is the g re a t­
e st h e a lth risk an d c o n c e rn fo r
p e o p le w h o s w im w ith in th e
W illa m e tte ’s w a ters.
D rake said, ho w ev er, after lo o k ­
in g at th e d a ta c o lle c te d fro m th e
site th e re is a m in im a l h e a lth risk
by m e re ly sw im m in g w ith in its
d e p th s .
R iv er. H e said , h o w e v e r, the p o r­
M ann said the sew age dum ps
tio n o f the W illa m e tte R iv e r th at w ent unabated for 100 years before
flo w s th ro u g h the c ity w as m is ­ the city built a treatm ent plant in
u sed fo r a lo n g tim e.
1951. “So it w as decades o f ju st
“ W h en P o rtla n d w as first b u ilt, funneling pollution into the river,
all o f the se w e rs w ere d e sig n e d to and the river got pretty nasty for a
d ra in in to th e riv e r fro m h o u ses w hile,” he said.
an d s tre e ts ,” he said.
M ann said one detail o f the p ro ­
N early 70 percent o f O regonians gram , w hich includes dozens o f
p ro je c ts , is th e e s tim a te d c o st
throughout the 20 years is $ 1.4 b il­
lion dollars. “T h a t’s a lot o f m oney,”
he said. “ B ut the com m unity b en ­
efits because the projects em ploy a
lot o f people, and there was a lot o f
m oney spent in the local area from a
project like this.”
T hro u g h o u t the years, a big p o r­
tion o f sew er rates, paid by re si­
dents quarterly, w as dedicated to
going tow ards C S O projects. Last
— Line Mann, the Bureau of environmental Services Spokesperson
m onth, the sew er rates w ere raised
by 6 percent. M ann said, how ever,
“ O u r d a ta su g g e sts it is very live within 20 miles o f the river, which the rates have been increasing since
safe to sw im in th e riv e r in the w ith its tr i b u ta r ie s , fo rm th e they began the program .
su m m e r m o n th s ,” he said.
W illam ette V alley and basin that
“ It has been a burden on sew er
A c c o rd in g to M an n , th e c ity o f co n tain s tw o -th ird s o f O re g o n ’s rate pay ers,” he said. “ B ut w e like to
P o rtla n d b o th h is to ric a lly e x ists population, including residents o f look at this as an investm ent in a
and has a b rig h t o u tlo o k fo r the both Salem and O regon ’ s m ost popu­ clean er river, w hich is an in v est­
fu tu re b e c a u se o f th e W illa m e tte lated city, Portland.
m ent in the w hole livability fo r the
...the community benefits
because the projects employ a
lot o f people, and there was a
lot o f money spent in the local
area from a project like this.
com m unity.”
W hile there are several portions
o f the project, including the m ain
p roject on the east side o f the river,
yet to be com pleted, M ann said it
has been really gratifying to see the
plan com e into fruition.
“W e are finally at a point w here
w e are going to w rap this up and
m ove on into the future,” he said.
“W e finished tunneling last O cto­
ber, and now w e are connecting all
o f the com bined sew ers to the tun­
nel, w hich should be com pleted this
fall.”
A lthough during the w et season
the propensity fo r C SO s becom e
higher, the C ity o f P ortland has a
R iver A lert Program , w hich issues a
public advisory each tim e there is
overflow into the river. T he w arn­
ing, w hich extends for 48 hours after
the rain has stopped, the city said
they reco m m en d avoiding activi­
ties that during w hich, people could
sw allow the w ater.
F o r inform ation regarding the
R iver A lert Program or C SO advi­
sory w arnings, visit the city o f P ort­
land w ebsite o r call 503-823-2479.
Surgeon Follows Heart to Mohave Dessert
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 4
youth escape becom ing a fatal sta­
tistic and explore o th er options.
Though N oble advocates m ilitary
service as one avenue out o f useless
street violence, he agrees it’s not for
everyone and he prefers to prom ote
college upon not only his sons, but
for all youth in the com m unity.
N oble hopes to gain experience
in the N avy as it relates to card io
thoracic and heart surgery, and says,
“ E ventually I w ould like to com e
back hom e to Portland, O regon and
put that experience to good use.”
E ag er to stay close to his fam ily,
N oble chose 29 Palm s out o f his
three other choices o f Fresno, G uam
and Japan to co m p lete his tw o years
general surgery fo r the N avy. He
w ill then return to the civilian w orld
w here he w ill co n tin u e specialty
training in heart and lung m edicine.
Prior to C alifornia, N oble m ust com ­
plete five w eeks o f m ilitary service
in R hode Island.
“ A ll though I lived all over the
co untry, P ortland has alw ays been
a place I ’ve call h o m e,” he said.