A northwest Oregon town is stepping up testing of the river that supplies some of its drinking water, prompted by InvestigateWest’s reporting that a local wood treater released stormwater tainted with toxic preservatives into the waterway while regulators kept it quiet.
The Sheridan City Council has instructed staff to consult with environmental researchers and state regulators on a new plan to test water samples from the South Yamhill River for chemicals used in recent years by Canadian company Stella-Jones. The proposed tests are separate from standard monitoring for contaminants in city drinking water that Sheridan is required by state law to regularly conduct.
“It would be nice to know what’s there, since we do have someone upstream dumping water that does have a chemical in it,” Sheridan Mayor Cale George said in an interview. “Unless we’re testing, we don’t know for sure.”…