The City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services today wrapped up its Willamette River summer “Check the Rec” weekly water quality testing season with 100% good results for all weeks, demonstrating again how the river is clean enough to swim, paddle, and play. 

With the summer season complete and the rainy season ahead, the public can continue to monitor water quality by following the Big Pipe Tracker. This online tool shows in near real-time how the City’s “Big Pipe” system and other infrastructure prevent sewage from overflowing into the river during rain storms. 

During this week’s heavy rain, for example, the Big Pipe Tracker filled up to about 25%, with all that volume going to the city’s wastewater treatment plant instead of overflowing into the river. 

Both the summer testing and rainy season tracker show how the public’s investment in the Big Pipe Project and other improvements have dramatically boosted the health of the Willamette River. Overflows that used to be common are now rare, dropping from an average of about 50 per year to less than four. That change has spurred a recreation boom of paddlers, boaters, and others who enjoy the river year-round. 

“The Big Pipe system continues to make a big difference for Portlanders who kayak, paddle, and play on the river, and for all Portlanders who value a clean river,” said Environmental Services Dawn Uchiyama. “Enjoy your river, and please do your part to keep our waterways clean.”

In addition to testing and the tracker, Environmental Services offers these clean river tips for the public:

• Pick up after the dog: Sewage isn’t the only source of bacteria. Pet poop contains many harmful organisms that can harm animals, wildlife, and even children. 
• Only rain goes down storm drains: Please don’t wash anything into storm drains, many of which lead directly to rivers and streams. 
• Fix motor oil leaks: Are you topping off your motor oil before your regularly scheduled maintenance? You’ve got a leak. Motor oil and other substances wash from the streets into waterways, where they can harm wildlife, fish, and ecosystems. When you cut down vehicle use, you protect water quality as well as reduce air and climate pollution.
• Report pollution: Someone washing paint down a storm drain, a strange-looking discharge coming from a pipe on the river, or sewage coming out of a maintenance access hole are just a few examples of the kinds of issues Environmental Services investigates. To report pollution, call our spill hotline at 503-823-7180.

About the Big Pipe Project
The Big Pipe Project is shorthand for an ambitious set of actions and improvements that together eliminated most combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, to the Willamette River and Columbia Slough. Named after two giant pipes along those waterways, the $1.4 billion project took a generation to build and was completed in 2011 on time and budget, eliminating 94% of overflows to the river and 99% to the slough. 

About Environmental Services
Environmental Services - the City of Portland’s sewer and stormwater utility - protects public health and the environment by collecting and recovering resources from the city’s wastewater, managing stormwater, and restoring and protecting Portland’s rivers, streams, and watersheds. Portland.gov/bes.