For decades, NEDC has led the fight to protect Oregon’s waters from stormwater pollution. When precipitation falls on industrial materials and processes, it can come into contact with various toxic pollutants, which are often then transported directly to nearby rivers—with severe impacts to water quality, aquatic life, and local communities. NEDC has worked tirelessly to ensure this pollution is properly regulated via Oregon’s “1200-Z” industrial stormwater general permit. And when necessary, we bring Clean Water Act citizen suits against facilities that violate the permit.
These lawsuits have a real impact. This year, NEDC has prosecuted seven different stormwater citizen suits across Oregon. Of these cases, we have secured three favorable settlement agreements against facilities in Portland, Springfield, and Medford. Each agreement includes a commitment from the facility to significantly upgrade stormwater treatment systems, resulting in pollution reductions in the Willamette River (in Portland and Springfield), and in Bear Creek, an important tributary of the Rogue River in Medford. Each defendant also agreed to a sizable Supplemental Environmental Project payment to a local nonprofit, to fund on-the-ground efforts to improve water quality and restore degraded habitat in the impacted watershed. Over the winter, we’ll be pushing for similar results in the four remaining cases, against facilities in Milwaukie, Grants Pass, Medford, and Corvallis. Taken together, our stormwater enforcement efforts in 2025 will result in significant water quality improvements to some of our state’s most treasured rivers.
In addition, this spring, NEDC completed our new Stormwater Pollution Mapping Project, a unique, easy-to-use application for community members and advocates to assess industrial stormwater pollution in Oregon’s communities and local waterways. Check it out here!