Oregon DEQ - Hasso Hering

DEQ has new plan to reduce mercury in river

Written November 25th, 2019 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 9 responses.

The DEQ announced on Monday it had issued its plan for reducing mercury pollution in the Willamette River. Whatever other merits this may have, it also gave me a pretext for using this photo of the river I took last month.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: DEQ, mercury TMDL, Oregon DEQ, Willamette River

City: DEQ permit would cost millions

Written February 14th, 2019 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 3 responses.

Albany says in court that trying to comply with a new state-issued stormwater discharge regulation would cost the city $5-7 million over five years. The city is asking the court to declare that the DEQ violated the Clean Water Act and Oregon law in issuing the regulation, and to set it aside. (See an update […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Clean Water Act, Oregon DEQ, Phase II MS4 permit, stormwaer permit

$13 million to prevent sewer overflows

Written December 22nd, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 24 responses.

For years, the city of Albany has posted pollution warnings near sewer outfalls on the Willamette River when heavy rainstorms overloaded the system. To fix this, the city now expects to spend $13 million borrowed from the state.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Dave Clark Path, Oregon DEQ, Riverfront Interceptor, sewer overflows

Will this fence keep anyone out?

Written September 23rd, 2015 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 4 responses.

This is the fence the city of Albany says it was required to build on he back side of the Talking Water Gardens. Now that it’s finished, it looks fine but I still don’t see why it was needed or how it makes much sense.

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: Oregon DEQ, Talking Water Gardens, Water Garden fencing

“Toxics” in the water: What to do?

Written April 28th, 2015 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 2 responses.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has released the results of a seven-year study of “toxic chemicals” in the state’s waterways. Too bad the report is not as useful as one would wish.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Oregon DEQ, toxics monitoring, water quality, Willamette River

Albany’s prudent answer to rain

Written June 9th, 2014 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 2 responses.

Albany has plans for a program to keep storm water from polluting our waterways, and it looks to me that the city staff has taken pains to keep any additional regulatory burden to a minimum. The city’s proposed answer to impending regulations is that new land developments above a certain size will have to incorporate features […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany City Council, Clean Water Act, Greenhorks, Oregon DEQ, Plannihng Commission, Stormwater quality

Our rivers: Cleanup pays off

Written July 3rd, 2013 by

Comments: no responses.

These last few days of warm weather have brought home once again how clean our rivers are, especially compared to half a century ago. If they weren’t, people would not go near them. And as we’ve seen lately, lots of people do seek out the Willamette and Santiam rivers, among others, to have a little […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: Oregon DEQ, Water quality index, Willamette River