OREGON, USA — On sunny days, people can be seen spending time along the Willamette River to enjoy the beauty, but unfortunately, there's a lot of trash.
Now, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is proposing to regulate parts of the Willamette River under the Clean Water Act. It would hold more property owners near the river accountable in preventing trash from entering the water.
"Much of the garbage that we find is household related. There is certainly recreational garbage as well," said Michelle Emmons of the Willamette Riverkeepers, a nonprofit that helps clean a 187-mile stretch of the Willamette River.
Emmons said they often find household chemicals, pharmaceuticals and sometimes drug paraphernalia in the river. But the trash piling up in the river is not just an environmental issue; it's also a social issue as well.
"Homelessness definitely has been a major contributor, and it does continue to be a contributor to the amount of garbage along the river," Emmons said.
The nonprofit is directly behind this initiative, having documented hundreds of pictures during their clean-up work the last five years.
Emmons said that the heaviest amounts of trash were found in areas of Portland, Eugene and Corvallis — where homeless people often set up tents.
"It doesn't mean we are villainizing homelessness," said Emmons. "It just means that we have to take a 60,000-foot approach to how we deal with the issue."
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says the public has now until June 17 to comment on the proposed listing, which can be found here.