City of Medford put on notice about sewage discharges to Rogue River

Little water creatures can tell us a lot about whether streams and rivers are polluted. For many years, this science of examining the fauna and flora in a stream has been embodied in Clean Water Act requirements called “biocriteria.” Even so, government agencies tend to ignore polluters who violate biocriteria. NWEA will not. NWEA has notified the City of Medford, OR that it will be sued in 60 days because its discharges of treated sewage to the Rogue River are violating this water quality standard measured in bugs and algae.

What Do Bugs Tell Us About Oregon’s Rogue River?

To date, three studies have concluded that Medford’s discharge to the Rogue River is causing dramatic changes in river bug life by comparing measurements upstream of the discharge with those downstream. The first study, in 2013 by Rick Hafele on behalf of the Rogue Fly Fishers and Federation of Fly Fishers, showed a drop in total abundance of aquatic invertebrates—animals without backbones, such as worms, snails, and mussels—of over 400 percent. It also looked at what type of bugs were present and found a highly significant decrease in the percentage of pollution-sensitive species—mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies declined over 3,000 percent. The study also found a highly significant increase in pollution-tolerant species—aquatic worms and non-insect taxa such as snails, clams, and crustaceans. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Medford’s own consultants have confirmed the findings in two subsequent studies.

The 2013 study, recently replicated for NWEA by Mr. Hafele, also shows the effect of Medford’s pollution on algal growth in the Rogue River. Look for yourself how rocks that are fairly clean of algae upstream of Medford become coated with algae downstream, fertilized by Medford’s discharge of nutrient pollution.