The RNA received this response to our complaint from the Washington State Department of Ecology in Olympia on April 20, 2004.
Thank-you for voicing your concerns in this matter. Ecology was notified of the incident on the day that it occurred. This Department is actively investigating the situation at this time. The report will be available to the public upon the completion of the investigation. Please feel free to inquire after June 1st about the status of this investigation. Please refer to ERTS number 540239 when making inquiries.
Thank-you,
Jeri Berube
Complaint Coordinator/SEPA Administrative Coordinator
Southwest Regional Office
Washington State Department Of Ecology
At 9:00am on April 15, 2004, fisherman at Frenchman’s Bar reported untreated sewage, syringes, feminine hygiene products, condoms, and other contaminates were washing ashore and littering 2 1/2 miles of Clark County beachfront, just north of the Vancouver Lake’s Flushing Channel. Unable to determine the source of the contamination, Health Department officials closed Frenchman’s Bar Park five hours later due to the public health risk from the spill. The entrance to the park was barred and locked with a notice to contact the Health Department for information. Even after the spill was reported, the fishermen continued to cast their fishing lines and joked about whether they would consume the day’s catch. County Health Officials collected syringes off the beach and a sifting machine was brought in to locate additional syringes and other contaminated items that may be hidden in the beach sand. Health officials also said they did not know if the greasy globules of sewage waste could be cleaned up.
The RNA previously reported that Portland sewage treatment facilities malfunction every time it rains (more than 100 times per year) since the stormwater overwhelms the sewer networks. With such failures, Portland sewers often dump raw, untreated sewage into the Willamette River, which then flows downstream into the Columbia River. The confluence of the two rivers is at the Flushing Channel. Aerial photos and sediment analysis clearly indicate that the Willamette flow crosses the Columbia River at the confluence point, where it can enter the Flushing Channel as well as flow north past Frenchman’s Bar Park.
If the spill originated in Portland sewers, then no sanction will be levied against the City of Portland. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to waive all fines for 30 years that could be attributed to Portland sewer discharges into the Willamette due to the fact that Portland has undertaken a $1.4 billion project to improve its sewering facilities. Weather and River conditions support the theory that the spill could have originated in Portland, however, there are other plausible explanations as well.
Local water quality experts told the RNA that the spill could have originated from one of the many international cargo vessels that sail along the Columbia River on a regular basis. When driving on Lower River Road, the mastheads of such vessels can be seen over the tree-tops on the shoreline. The locals call this spectacle “ships in the meadows” since it looks like the cargo vessels are floating in cow pastures and surrounding lands currently slated for industrial development under the City’s Gateway Project. Local water quality experts suspect that a large cargo vessel dumped its bilge (septic tank waste) directly into the Columbia River to avoid wastewater dumping fees, and that someone requiring daily use of syringes (like a diabetic) may have been aboard the ship.
Other barges are known to transport loads of medical and septic waste on the River, transporting it to treatment and disposal facilities. A businesses that runs such barge operations could attempt illegal dumping of their cargo into a river or marine environment in order to avoid expensive disposal fees and thereby increase profits. Such illegal dumping incidents have been widely reported by various Riverkeeper groups throughout the country.
It is possible to investigate and identify potential cargo vessels that have navigated the waterway using cargo registries from the Port of Vancouver. DNA testing can match isolate samples from septic tanks and other sources to identify the origins of bacterial strains, and thereby identify the source of the spill. Such tests have been performed on waterways in Vancouver, as late as 1999. A Chinese shipping company was found to have illegally dumped its bilge elsewhere in US waters, and a similar investigation identified the culprit.
Both the Clark County Health Department and the State Health Department complain of budget cuts, and it is questionable as to whether either department will fund a proper investigation, or if any other agency (like the US Coast Guard) will take charge of the matter. Unless the various cargo vessels are investigated, officials may never be able to determine the extent of the spill since the Columbia flow likely carried most of the discharge downstream and out to the ocean. Furthermore, the swift current diluted the spill’s concentration, and water quality tests would be unable to determine how many gallons of bilge waste or contaminated cargo were purged. Nevertheless, the dumping of such septic waste or cargo is a violation of the Federal Clean Water Act.
Plans are currently underway to dredge the Columbia River, making it accessible to even larger ships. If the authorities do not better monitor the operations of vessels throughout the Port of Vancouver, including Clark County shorelines, incidents such as what happened at Frenchman’s Bar are likely to reoccur. Local fisherman report that it is common to see streaks of sewage on the beachfront at Frenchman’s Bar, especially after it rains. However, this recent spill is the worst that the fishermen can remember, and they have fished from Frenchman’s Bar for decades.
Despite the fact that Frenchaman’s Bar is a favorite fishing spot, it may be ill-advised to eat fish that are caught in the area. Results from the Lower Columbia River Estuary Study (by CH2M Hill) indicate that fish caught in the area have been found to contain exceedences of 10 out of 11 of the EPA’s toxic substance thresholds, including heavy metals, pesticides, dioxins, phisteria, benzene, and chlorinated biphenals (solvents). The Columbia River water is also known to contain radioactive particles from the Hanford Nuclear Facility. Consuming the flesh of toxic fish can (and does) cause cancer.
A sixty-year ban on fishing the Hudson River (New York) was implemented when fish were found to contain high levels of toxic substances and the public’s health was in jeopardy. This ban wiped the fishing industry from the entire waterway, causing many generations of fishing families to lose their way of life. There is no current plan in place to regularly test the water quality or the toxic levels in fish along the Vancouver/Clark County stretches of the Columbia River, even though the Willamette is currently a Superfund site. Representatives from the Washington State Department of Ecology say they do not think the contaminants from the Willamette end up in the Columbia, a statement that appears to be arbitrary in that no agency has initiated scientific study to support this claim. Nevertheless, lab results indicate that toxic pollution is on the rise in the Columbia River as well as the contiguous waterbodies like Vancouver Lake, Lake River, and the many creeks that flow throughout the geographic region.
Local water quality experts are currently in contact with the Columbia Riverkeepers with plans to establish a local Riverkeepers chapter in the Vancouver/Clark County area. Riverkeeper groups are well known to investigate, identify and prosecute those who intentionally pollute our rivers. Rivers are owned by the public. Any attempt to pollute or destroy the riverways is punishable by citizen action under federal law. Local fishermen know that the Columbia has suffered from polluters for many years. Clearly, action must be taken to step up protections for our river and our way of life.
