News Release

May 1, 2015

How healthy is your local watershed? Check watershed health grades at www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/ReportCards. Environmental Services developed the Watershed Report Cards to give a quick view of conditions in Portland’s rivers, streams and watersheds.

The grades summarize information gathered about water quality, how water flows over land and in streams, fish and wildlife habitat, and the diversity and health of fish and wildlife. All these issues relate to how Environmental Services manages stormwater runoff in Portland.

The city monitors conditions in Portland’s portion of the Willamette, Willamette Tributaries, Fanno Creek, Tryon Creek, Columbia Slough and Johnson Creek watersheds. The watersheds get a mix of high and low grades and the report cards highlight conditions and issues unique to each watershed.

The report cards will track changes in watershed health over time, show the types of projects that have the most positive impacts on watershed health and help the city comply with state and federal regulations, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.

“Good science drives good policy,” said Commissioner Nick Fish. “While City Council will be using this tool to shape our efforts to improve the watersheds, I encourage residents to use the report cards to learn about their own watershed and how they can help us continue to make progress.”

Portland watersheds won’t return to a pristine, pre-development state but improving watershed health is city priority. Portland continues to make significant investments to protect the city’s natural resources, but reversing the impacts of 150 years of urban development is a long process.

For information contact Linc Mann, 503-823-5328, linc.mann@portlandoregon.gov.

The Bureau of Environmental Services works with Portland residents and businesses to protect water quality, public health, and the environment through wastewater collection and treatment, sewer construction and maintenance, stormwater management, and stream and watershed restoration.

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