Agenda - 09-21-2010 - 4g - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 later, they started showing up on my upper chest and neck." He went on to say, "that's not the worst of it. My crops were burned by that water..... Due to the water pollution damage, my beet yield was 45% of normal. Cauliflower yields were even worse. I estimate I lost $300,000 in crops. My nearby fields were not irrigated with this water and had normal yields." And finally, Mr. Duyck says, "I'm still feeling run down and having breathing problems. Was it the algae? I think so. We need to know what to do if this happens again. Food safety and farmers' livelihoods are at stake." Washington County Commissioner Dick Schouten said, "Pollution like this anywhere in this country is unacceptable. We need all the protections of the Clean Water Act, including those for headwaters, intermittent streams and wetlands, to ensure that the public has safe and clean water." LANE COUNTY, OR: Fair far All Dick Schouten - - ~ ~ ~ Lane County operates a 55-acre fairground area, owned by the people of Lane County, mainly as ~~ '; the Lane Events Center and the Lane County Fair. Amazon Creek, a tributary of the Long Tom i~ - River, which itself is a tributary of the Willamette River, which flows into the mighty Columbia, was ~ affected by pollution from cows and horses and other large animals at the county fairgrounds, which borders the creek. There were animals at the fairgrounds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ~~ ti~~ 365 days a year because people were allowed to stable animals there and the animal waste was getting into Amazon Creek (which flows by the fairgrounds property) via storm drains that flowed .'; directly to the creek. Lane County gets its share of the Pacific Northwest's ample rainfall, and the fresh manure ran straight into the Creek. Dumping info a storm drain at the fairgrounds. On behalf of the Sierra Club and Citizens for Public Accountability, an attorney for the Oregon Clean Water Action Project sent Lane County a Clean Water Act notice of intent to sue. The fair board had legal counsel with a good working knowledge of the Clean Water Act, and they reportedly realized that they didn't have much wiggle room they needed to completely eliminate discharge of animal waste to the creek, and that was that The attorney for the Sierra Club and Citizens for Public Accountability stated that "the county/fairgrounds was fairly responsive, and a series of meetings resulted in the county banning animals from the fairgrounds except during a few events (the county fair, the 4-H fair ...)and the fairgrounds agreed to take measures to ensure that no animal waste got into the nearby creek during these events. After determining that other alternatives for eliminating animal waste were impractical or too expensive, the fair ultimately ended up re-plumbing the site so that the storm drains can be re-directed to the sewage treatment plant during a handful of annual events involving animals, and banning animals from the fairgrounds the rest of the time. Horses and cattle are now kept off the fairgrounds during the wet winter months. No lawsuit was filed in light of the county's changed practices." This is an admirable example of the Clean Water Actin action. Citizens took advantage of the legal processes within the Act by filing the intent to sue. That pressured the county to resolve the problem. Because of Lane County's actions, the creek is now cleaner and aquatic life is coming back in force. Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson said, "While the county lost some revenue because we can't hold horse shows on this property any longer, the aquatic life that is now coming back to Amazon Creek evens the score. The County stepped up to the plate and took care of the problem, and I am proud of that." Pete Sorenson ~: ~. 11 Clean Water For All: County Leaders Speak Out for Clean Water A storm drain at the fairgrounds.