That may have been true 20 years ago. But the biggest despoiler of Oregon streams today is, it turns out, all of us. It's not something you can regulate easily,'' said Ed Sale, a spokesman for the DEQ's water quality office. One person washing his car is no big deal, but think about thousands of people washing their cars. And think about all the oil and grease and soap going into the water.'' Because it would be impractical, if not impossible, to prevent people from washing cars or fertilizing lawns, the DEQ's approach is to help local government educate citizens.
Experts know that a lot of the oil ends up in streams.
I don't know where they think it goes. Maybe to a treatment plant or the middle of the earth or someplace. I'm not sure. Next came organic enrichment that triggered algae overgrowth that depleted oxygen in the water, killing fish and other organisms, at 37 percent. Next came human disease-causing pathogens, at 27 percent.