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Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
Sun Aug 2, 2020, 04:27 AM Aug 2020

60-plus days of tear gas leaves lingering questions about environmental impacts

Public agencies are trying to answer a question on the minds of many, including a U.S. congressman and Oregon lawmakers: What will all that tear gas mean for trees, water and wildlife?

For much of the past 60 days, downtown Portland has been enveloped by clouds of tear gas used by federal and local police to disperse protesters and discourage people from gathering.

Recent public accounts describe a strong chemical odor lingering in Lownsdale Square hours after police release gas. Others have seen what appears to be tear gas residue sticking to the dirt and dust when they’ve made daylight returns to the area. And they’ve experienced the return of itchiness in their eyes and scratchiness in their throats from the previous night’s protests.

Some are worried about what the chemicals will do to the environment long after downtown protests end.

“Because of how they are cleaning the streets and when they come through with the trucks and they wash the street and brush it, where does all that water run? Into the sewer system. Where does that sewer system run to? I’m guessing into the [Willamette] River,” said a woman who identified herself as Vita. She was in the area early Thursday. She said she is a medical assistant who has been helping tend to protesters’s medical needs.

“All those chemicals, if it’s a daily occurrence for a long period of time, yeah, it can definitely hurt,” she said.

When asked about what all these chemicals are doing to the environment, state and city agencies say there’s nowhere to look to for answers, because no other U.S. city has ever been subjected to such a sustained barrage of tear gas.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services are working together to gather more information and research about what the potential environmental impacts of chronic tear gas deployment may be.


Much more: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/07/31/tear-gas-environmental-impact-portland/



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60-plus days of tear gas leaves lingering questions about environmental impacts (Original Post) Rhiannon12866 Aug 2020 OP
Factoid about Portland sewers Thunderbeast Aug 2020 #1

Thunderbeast

(3,382 posts)
1. Factoid about Portland sewers
Sun Aug 2, 2020, 10:54 AM
Aug 2020

Street runoff is captured by large interceptor sewer and pumped to a treatment plant in North Portland. Effluent from that plant goes into the Columbia River after treatment.

I have no idea how effective the treatment process is at removing any chemical residue.

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