The Seven C's

Commitment: 

Willamette Riverkeeper first post: https://www.instagram.com/p/hj0gStNba8/?igshid=NTYzOWQzNmJjMA== 

Willamette Riverkeeper most recent post:

An example of commitment for water pollution is the Willamette Riverkeeper’s Instagram account. Their first post was in 2013 and had 11 likes. Their most recent post is from August 2023, a whole decade later, with 164 likes, with 391 posts in total. They’ve been regularly posting and growing their followers and likes for over 10 years, showing their commitment to spreading awareness about their cause in improving the pollution in the Willamette River.  (The numbers are as of November 26th, 2023.)

Citizenship: https://twitter.com/sourceweekly/status/1320409895770914818?t=-9m-ubKIqIBUfsAHwO9DrA&s=19 

This tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter) is advocating for people to vote on a state measure that would help improve the water pollution of the rivers in Oregon. Spreading awareness and encouraging people to vote is a show of citizenship. 

Congruence: 

The caption of this Instagram post by Columbia Riverkeeper’s Instagram describes how people of the local community spoke out against harmful acts that would further cause water pollution. Rather than allowing the project to occur, many people, including Governor Kotek who advocates for a cleaner climate, chose to speak out against this project in order to protect our waters and environment. This contrasts the Biden Administration—who promised to listen to communities about environmental issues, just to go on to approve damaging projects instead, as the image on the post says. The people talked about in the caption that spoke out against the project show congruence because they speak up about what they believe and act on their beliefs, doing what they can to help the water pollution.

Other Media Sources

Willamette River: Oregon's Threatened Treasure 

Small portions of the Willamette River are clean and very see-through. However, as you go further north, around bigger cities, the pollution is worse and makes the water more dangerous and gross as the ecology of the river is changed.

Academic Perspectives

This week’s blog post involves using peer-reviewed articles to look at what experts in water pollution have to say about the rivers. I chose one peer-reviewed article that discussed wetlands of the Willamette River and another article that discussed the ammonium nitrate concentration in the Columbia River. Both articles agree that the quality is improving, but needs continuous monitoring.

 The first article, “Landsat-based monitoring of annual wetland change in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, USA from 1972 to 2012” written by Fickas et al. (2016) conducted research using Landsat Time Series, where images of bodies of water are taken from satellites, to analyze loss of wetlands and conversion types along the Willamette Valley (from Eugene in the south to near Oregon City in the north of Oregon). The study found that, with the Federal and State laws mandated in 1990 to reduce net loss of wetlands, the rate of wetland loss decreased and eventually turned into upwards trends of net gain of wetlands (Fickas et al. 2016). However, they also observed that there were conversions between vegetated wetlands to non vegetated wetlands, causing an overall loss in ecosystem function (Fickas et al. 2016). 

The other article, “Identifying water factors that are related to ammonia nitrogen concentrations in Columbia River using a reversed hazard exponential model” written by Abreu dos Santos et al. (2021) conducted quantitative research of the Columbia River ranging from the Washington-Canada border to the Wasington-Oregon border analyzing the factors that increase or decrease the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in the river, because the higher the ammonium nitrogen content the lower the water quality of the river. The results concluded that municipal and industrial effluent as well as runoff from agricultural lands contribute to increases in ammonium nitrogen content, thus causing more polluting problems affecting the plants and wildlife of the river (Abreu dos Santos et al. 2021). 

Both studies conclude that agriculture has a huge impact on the pollution of the rivers, affecting both wetland loss and increase in pollutants, as well as industrial and municipal chemicals, which agrees with prior research I’ve done using non peer-reviewed sources (Abreu dos Santos et al. 2021; Fickas et al. 2016). Fickas et al. (2016) and Abreu dos Santos et al. (2021) each explain that the research the conducted is proof for why continuous monitoring of wetland distribution and concentration of ammonium nitrogen for their respective rivers is necessary and can be applied to other rivers in order to ensure that pollution of the rivers aren’t worsening over time, especially as climate change continues to get worse. 

Overall, the articles were informative in how different factors affect pollution, agree that the quality of each river is improving, and claim that the rivers need to continue to be monitored in order to keep improving (Abreu dos Santos et al. 2021; Fickas et al. 2016). Not only does their research apply to their individual rivers, but the methodology and implications used for each study can apply to the other river discussed here, as well as any other river affected by water pollution in the world.  

 

References 

Abreu dos Santos, D., Martins, A. C., Silva, K. M., Nunes, A. C., Miranda, Y. C., Battistelli, A. A., Oliveira, R. P., Camilo, R., & Achcar, J. A. (2022). Identifying water factors that are related to ammonia nitrogen concentrations in Columbia River using a reversed hazard exponential model. River Research and Applications, 38(2), 256–266. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3902 

Fickas, K. C., Cohen, W. B., & Yang, Z. (2016). Landsat-based monitoring of annual wetland change in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, USA from 1972 to 2012. Wetland

Radio

PODCAST:

As Portland's Willamette River gets cleaner, it's also getting crowded

This podcast discusses the previously mentioned overcrowding problem of the Willamette River. A man who is on a dragon boat team and was practicing on the river describes a “wall of water” that half-filled the boat he was in with water due to the wakesurfers. That’s one example of an instance where a boat was damaged because of the waves out of over a hundred instances. People began to complain about the surfs and pressured the government into putting rules in place to prevent wakes from harming other recreational users of the river. This has been helpful for local residents who have homes on the shores of the river that have been getting damaged because of the wake surfs. On the other hand, some wake surfers have made a family tradition out of surfing on the Willamette, and are concerned at the potential ban of wake-surfing on the Willamette altogether. As the issue of pollution and contamination is being addressed, a new social problem is arising in the sharing of the Willamette River that is still impacting local communities. As rivers in general are cleaned up, proper monitoring and regulation of how the rivers are then being used is still necessary in order to avoid further conflicts within the local communities. 

OPB Audio (Host). (2021). As Portland's Willamette River gets cleaner, it's also getting crowded [Audio podcast]. Spreaker. https://www.spreaker.com/user/oregonpublicbroadcasting/as-portlands-willamette-river-gets-clean 

SONG:

RM, Wale ‘Change’

#‘Change’ by #RM of #BTS and #Wale is a song about having lost faith in the government and society in their respective countries (South Korea and the U.S.), but still having hope that the world will change for the better. #WorldIsGonnaChange

News

Columbia Slough: Portland neighborhood attraction or polluted embarrassment? (Foden-Vencil 2023) 

A few people, particularly local communities, have spoken up and claimed that there is too much trash in the Columbia River, though it’s gotten better over the years. This article claims that the sloughs of the river running through Portland are “cleaner,” but there are still industrial chemicals buried in the sediment which get eaten up by bugs and put into the food chain of the river, continuing to contaminate all the wildlife residing in the water. Locals who grew up around the river in the 90’s are now saying that the river definitely looks a lot better than it did a couple decades ago, but are still hoping for more improvement—one even said, “I would be surprised if it was like Lake Oswego . . . That would be very nice, but that’s kind of far-reaching.”

As Portland’s Willamette River gets cleaner, it’s also getting overcrowded. (Profita 2021) 

On the other hand, this article claims that, because the Willamette River is finally clean enough for recreational activities, it’s getting too overcrowded. Lots of people enjoy wake-surfing, tubing, and water-skiing, which gets dangerous for the people in boats (over 100 boats received a lot of damage due to wakes), swimming, and paddling. It’s gotten to a point where restrictions were put in place on where and when people can wake-surf in order to keep others enjoying the river safe. One person even made the comparison that taking a canoe out to the river during the weekend in the summer months is like “playing in traffic” because of how many people use the river that time of year. 

Where locals residing by the Columbia River sloughs wish that their river will one day be clean enough to compare to Lake Oswego or the Tualatin River, people who are enjoying the mostly-clean Willamette River find it overcrowded and congested during the summer months.

References

Foden-Vencil, K. (2023, July 24). Columbia Slough: Portland neighborhood attraction or polluted embarrassment?. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/24/columbia-slough-portland-pollution-river-polluted/

Profita, C. (2021, October 29). As Portland’s Willamette River gets cleaner, it’s also getting overcrowded. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/10/19/portland-willamette-river-gets-cleaner-also-gets-overcrowded/ 

Stakeholders and Leaders - Interview

To add onto the "Stakeholders and Leaders" portion of the blog, I met Todd, an undergraduate senior student at Portland State University who is majoring in Environmental Science, and asked a few questions regarding how his work and how he felt about the water pollution problem in the local rivers.

How did you come to find yourself working on water pollution? (What got you interested in working in aquatic environmental science? Were there any risks you took? What was your "scope" or range in working with the pollution of the rivers?)

Water is life. As a very young child, my yard backed up to a creek which I spent hundreds of hours exploring, flipping over rocks, catching insects and crawfish, and fishing for trout. As I grew up, I realized that not everyone has access to natural areas or clean drinking water like I did. Very little water on Earth is usable freshwater, and much of it is polluted. I spent my teens volunteering for Friends Of Trees, planting thousands of trees to improve the environment, and hopefully our waters. And then, for many years, even though my past was firmly rooted in the environment, I pursued a different avenue, working in and even owning/operating bicycle shops. That was fine for a while, but after 15 years of turning wrenches, I desired more out of life. I was looking for purpose, for meaning. At age 31 I took a big risk by going back to school at PCC, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, just knowing I needed change. I pursued a general studies degree, and along the way was reminded of my love for the environment. I wanted to give back to the world, to the environment, to people, and to communities. By going back to school, I created that purpose and meaning in my life. I transferred to PSU in 2021 and declared an Environmental Science Major. This summer I began working in Jen Morse's biogeochem lab, sampling and analyzing river and stream water in the Portland area as part of the nationwide CURB project, which focuses on urban riparian zones. Clean water and access to natural areas is a huge environmental justice issue in the Portland area. Access to healthy fish to eat is an ancestral right for the indigenous peoples of this area. After I graduate I hope to be able to give back to some of these communities by restoring watersheds.

Are there any experiences working in the Willamette or Columbia Rivers that you would like to talk about?

One of my most cherished experiences on the Willamette happened many years ago. The Willamette River harbor is a Superfund site, meaning it is very, very polluted. Also, every summer hazardous algal blooms crop up in the waters, making it unsafe for swimming, dogs, and other animals. Despite all this, one evening on my commute home from work, I found a wild beaver waddling down the Eastside Esplanade path. It was an important reminder that humans and wildlife coinhabit the same spaces, and even though the river flows through downtown contained by a seawall, it's still very much a wild river, and that water needs protecting to ensure animals like the beaver has a home for many more years.

How do you think your work impacts the river? How do you think it impacts the local communities? (Have you seen any improvement in the rivers or local communities?)

In science, it's all about the research and data. It is critical to gather as much information as possible about the subject in order to make informed analyses, conclusions, and eventually plans for the future. One of the first steps is in the field, gathering water samples from many sites throughout the area. We then take these samples back to the lab and run a myriad of tests in order to be able to quantify the results. The end goal is we have observable patterns as a reference to see how things might change in the future in response to stressors like climate change and pollution, or from restoration projects. It is easy to see improvements in the community if you know where to look. From Oaks Bottom to Johnson Creek, restoration projects have reconnected floodplains, improving water quality and habitat for salmon. When the fish come back, the land starts to heal, and the communities around those waters take notice and also rise up. It's all very intersectional, so my hope is that by working in watershed restoration I can not only help salmon but improve our community as well.

Is there anything else you'd like to share in regards to the water pollution of the rivers? 

It's important in working in environmental science to have a positive outlook. It can be really easy to see all the harm and destruction in the world, get down about it, and feel hopeless. While it's true there is a lot going on in the world, it's vital to focus on what we can control, and what matters, and the intersection of the two is where you should focus your energy. The only thing in this world you can change is yourself. By going to school, working in the community, and focusing on the positives, I believe it is possible to make a difference. "There is very little difference in people. That little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether that attitude is positive or negative." -W. Clement Stone.

A huge thank you to Todd for providing useful insights and experiences!

Stakeholders and Leaders

Unsurprisingly, there are people who are negatively affected by the pollution of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and others who benefit from the pollution. Some of the people who have stakes in the pollution of the Willamette river are local communities, including indigenous tribes, especially people who like to swim and fish in the area. As recent as August 2023, reports of toxic algae are blooming in certain parts of the river, including downtown Portland, that can be harmful if ingested (either through swallowing the water or eating fish caught in the area) (Seymore 2023; Klosterman & Schneller 2023). Locals, mainly low-income and marginalized communities, living by the Columbia River “found a voice” in the 1990’s and 2000’s as they started to clean the river, viewing the trash that had been dumped into the river up until the 1970’s as “not OK” and something that needed to be taken care of, and asked for help (Foden-Vencil 2023). Willamette Riverkeeper, an organization dedicated to preserving and cleaning the Willamette River, claims that another population affected by the pollution is the wildlife—most especially due to trash left behind unregulated encampments along the river shores (Tilkin & Steele 2023). The people who are in the encampments aren’t exactly negatively affected by the pollution—unless they try to drink the water or eat the fish—but they do benefit from being able to leave trash around without much reprehension because no one—state, city, public or private organizations—wants to claim responsibility over the shores (Tilkin & Steele 2023). Another group that benefited from polluting both of the rivers were the industries, such as the oil and manufacturing industries, that used the river as a dumpsite for their toxic wastes, in order to save money and resources from proper disposal (Klosterman & Schneller 2023; Foden-Vencil 2023). Overall, the people who suffer from the pollution are mostly local communities and wildlife, but they’re also the ones who fight hard to have the river cleaned, while the groups that benefited from the pollution were the ones who caused the pollution in the first place. 

References

Foden-Vencil, K. (2023, July 24). Columbia Slough: Portland neighborhood attraction or polluted embarrassment?. OPB. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/24/columbia-slough-portland-pollution-river-polluted

Klosterman, I., & Schneller, A. J. (2023, February 13). Portland Harbor Superfund Site. EJ Atlas. https://ejatlas.org/conflict/portland-harbor-superfund-site

Seymore, J. (2023, August 16). Toxic algae blooms “growing rapidly” in Willamette River. KOIN.com. https://www.koin.com/news/environment/toxic-algae-blooms-growing-rapidly-in-willamette-river/

Tilkin, D., & Steele, T. (2023a, April 7). No rules: Illegal cabins with million-dollar views of Portland. KOIN.com. https://www.koin.com/news/portland/portland-homeless-cabins-with-million-dollar-views/

Tilkin, D., & Steele, T. (2023b, May 12). Riverkeeper calls out state officials over illegal, unregulated waterfront cabins. KOIN.com. https://www.koin.com/news/portland/illegal-waterfront-cabins-riverkeepers-call-out-state/  

Environment and Context

Problems with the Willamette River began when settlers came to the riverbank and viewed the river as something to "harness" in order to maximize agricultural and transportation services (City of Portland, Oregon 2012). Supposed “improvements” to the river that were made by settlers were deepening the channel, incorporating irrigation ditches to divert the water from the channel after filling in smaller side channels, sewage was poured into the river, and dams were built to control flooding (City of Portland, Oregon 2012). Unfortunately, this paved the way (almost literally) for toxicants, such as pesticides in farming communities and other pollutants in urban areas, to flow into the streams or the river directly and cause damage (City of Portland, Oregon 2012). 

At the state level, someone who really helped work on the water pollution problem for the Willamette River is former Governor Tom McCall. After being elected governor in 1967, he started a cleanup campaign to stop the sources of pollutants to the river—getting rid of pipes that led sewage water and industrial wastes straight into the river (City of Portland, Oregon n.d.). Since then, the city of Portland has been conducting various projects that work on smaller areas of the Willamette River mainstream and tributaries to improve conditions in smaller areas that will hopefully lead to increase in quality for the river overall, such as the Combined Sewer Overflow Project (or “Big Pipe Project”) which reduced the amount of sewer water being drained into the Willamette (City of Portland, Oregon n.d.). An organization that is helping the improvement of the Willamette is the Willamette Riverkeeper (linked to their Instagram account). They focus on enforcing the Clean Water Act (a Federal Act that regulates pollutants and water quality), protecting aquatic species and habitats, amongst other projects and initiatives (Environmental Protection Agency n.d.; Willamette Riverkeeper n.d.).  

The Columbia River has had a long and harsher history of pollutants constantly being dumped into its water. According to the Columbia Riverkeeper (n.d.), the major sources of the pollutants into the river are from factories and industrial sites, wastewater treatment plants (which dump over 100 toxicants into the river), and agricultural and logging runoff. The pesticides in the water led to resistant, nonnative plants to grow along the river, taking over the dying native plants. Over 200 electric dams have also been built, which have been leaking oil into the water—over 1,500 gallons of oil was reported by the Army Corps in 2012 to have leaked into the river. 

The Columbia Riverkeeper (links to their Instagram account) organization has been a strong advocate for cleaning the Columbia River. They’ve partaken in lawsuits against the government and industries that pollute the river (Columbia Riverkeeper n.d.),work on saving the salmon population, and incorporate the community in the help to clean the river (Columbia Riverkeeper n.d.). At the state level, Oregon and Washington are amongst the Pacific Northwest States to advocate for listing the Columbia River as a superfund site by the EPA, which would then bring in more federal funding to help clean the river (Columbia Riverkeeper n.d.). 

References: 

Columbia Riverkeeper. (n.d.). Oil leaks from dams: Columbia Riverkeeper. Dam Oil Leaks. https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/our-work/stopping-pollution/oil-leaks-dams

Columbia Riverkeeper. (n.d.). Our work. Clean Water. Healthy Rivers. Our Future. https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/our-work

Columbia Riverkeeper. (n.d.). Pollution facts. 12 Facts on Columbia River Pollution. https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/our-work/stopping-pollution/pollution-prevention/pollution-facts

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Summary of the Clean Water Act | US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act

Willamette Riverkeeper. (2012, December 28). Willamette River History. About the Watershed RSS. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/231478

Willamette Riverkeeper. (n.d.). Clean water act enforcement. Programs. https://willamette-riverkeeper.org/clean-water  

Defining the Community Problem

Hello! My name is Emma and I am a student at Portland State University. I’m currently taking a class, Leading Social Change, where I will be researching a problem and sharing about it on this platform. The issue I will be researching and writing about is on the water pollution of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. 

My scope of research will include what causes the water pollution in the rivers, how it has affected the surrounding environment—such as the local ecosystem—and how to solve the problem. I will also try to limit the research to how the quality of the rivers is like to just around the Portland Metro area, though it may be helpful to compare the quality between Portland and the other cities and towns the rivers run through in Oregon and Washington. My research will not have a focus on other rivers (though it may be helpful to look at how other bodies of water were able to be restored) or the land itself within Portland (however, a look at what was going on inside Portland may provide helpful context for the causes behind the pollution). 

So what exactly is the problem? According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Columbia Riverkeeper, the water pollution problem that encompasses both the Willamette River and the Columbia River is the illegal dumping of toxins into the river, such as pesticides and heavy metals, which has been found to decrease the habitat quality and harm mostly the salmon population as well as the water quality (Environmental Protection Agency 2017; Columbia Riverkeeper n.d.). 

Why is the pollution of these rivers important? The Chinook Salmon species, along with several other species of fish, have been put on the endangered species list, and continue to be on the list today (City of Portland, Oregon n.d.; National Wildlife Federation n.d.). This impacts the fishing communities in that there are now fishing regulations in place in order to conserve the fish populations (Villapando, M. 2023) as well as how “Columbia River tribal members who frequently eat fish may have cancer risks up to 50 times higher than people who eat fish once a month” because of the “high levels of cancer-causing chemicals” found in the fish (Columbia Riverkeeper n.d.). If the problem of pollution does not get resolved, the fish will remain endangered, and this will negatively impact many community members’ health and traditions. And although the government and local organizations have worked to stop pollution, the Chinook Salmon is still found to be endangered in the Columbia River, meaning that the effort to stop the pollution is ongoing (National Wildlife Federation n.d.).  Most of the intoxicants dumped into the rivers are from corporations and industries, as well as through water containing gasoline and other pollutants in the streets of the cities streaming into the rivers because of sewer build-ups (Columbia Riverkeeper n.d.). It is our responsibility as residents of the area that contribute to the problem to advocate for holding industries and the government accountable for keeping our local rivers safe for the sake of its wildlife inhabitants as well as its community members.  

Photo of the Willamette River:

Pietsch, C. (2022). [image].

Photo of the Columbia River:

Jurgenhessphotography. (2016). Columbia River at ‘tipping point’ warns longtime conservation leader [image].

References: 

City of Portland, Oregon. (n.d.). Willamette River Mainstem Watershed Report Card. Portland.gov. https://www.portland.gov/bes/protecting-rivers-streams/portlands-watershed-report-cards/willamette-mainstem-report-card

Columbia Riverkeeper. (n.d.-a). 12 Facts on Columbia River Pollution. Columbia Riverkeeper. https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/our-work/stopping-pollution/pollution-prevention/pollution-facts 

Columbia Riverkeeper. (n.d.-b). Enforce the law. Columbia Riverkeeper. https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/stopping-pollution/law

Columbia Riverkeeper. (n.d.-c). Stopping pollution. Columbia Riverkeeper. https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/our-work/stopping-pollution

Environmental Protection Agency. (2017, October 20). Portland Harbor Site Profile. Superfund Site. https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=1002155#bkground

The National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). Chinook salmon. National Wildlife Federation. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Fish/Chinook-Salmon

Villapando, M. (2023, January 19). 2023 fishing regulations in Oregon. Pastime Fishing Adventures. https://pastimefishingadventures.com/2023-fishing-regulations-in-oregon/