High trash level reported in Oregon’s Willamette River [Video]

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; …