Residents of Portland, Oregon, have been advised to avoid one of the nation's largest rivers after roughly half a million gallons of sewage leaked into the water system, local officials said.
one of the nation's largest rivers after roughly half a million gallons of sewage leaked into the water system, local officials said Monday afternoon. The reason for the advisory, officials said, is because there could be"increased bacteria" in the water. which according to nonprofit organization Willamette Riverkeeper is the 13th largest river by volume in the U.S.
"The wastewater had undergone all stages of treatment except the final one – the addition of a disinfectant," Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services said in its advisory on Monday afternoon."A pump that delivers disinfectant failed around midnight and was repaired by 5:30 a.m." The volume of wastewater that then seeped from the plant was just a third of its normal flow, they added, but it's estimated that 500,000 gallons of the water was released into the river without the disinfectant. That stage of the process entails usingto kill bacteria that may be remaining from the rest of the process, the Portland government says.
The public has been advised to"avoid the river" around Foothills Park for 48 hours"due [to] the possibility of increased bacteria in the water," officials said. The wastewater treatment plant is nearly half a century old, and according to the city of Lake Oswego is"in need of major upgrades to continue to reliably meet Oregon Department of Environmental Quality water quality requirements." The city has been exploring the possibility of building a"
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