Portland Streetcar Contractor Dumps 1,400 Gallons Of Raw Sewage Into WillamettePortland Streetcar Contractor Dumps 1,400 Gallons Of Raw Sewage Into Willamette

This morning a contractor for the Portland Streetcar blocked a pipe, causing 1,400 gallons of raw sewage to flow directly into the Willamette River. The Bureau for Environmental Services detected the surge of toxins in the water on the east side of the river, just south of the Morrison Bridge at 9:26 am.

Apparently there is a lot of construction happening in the area, but no one I spoke to seemed to know how the blocked pipe had come about. "I did hear that it was related to the Portland Streetcar," Dan Anderson from PBOT agrees, but the details remain unknown. Kay Dannen, spokesperson for Portland Streetcar, declined knowledge of the event when first asked, although later called back and agreed there had been an "incident" and offered to send me a news release that didn't give any answers anyway.

"I think it was probably a misunderstanding or a breakdown in communication," says Linc Mann, spokesperson for the Bureau of Environmental Services.

The blocked pipe was fixed at 10:22 am, but not before the raw sewage had poured into the river for an hour.

City of Portland Environmental Services has cautioned against anyone using the river around the Morrison Bridge today and tomorrow because of high bacteria levels.

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