There's some funky stuff in there. Photo: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Portland's Big Pipe is at capacity, and that means there's doo-doo in the water.
Driving the news: When heavy rains hit, it can overwhelm Portland's combined sewer system, which carries all the rain that falls as well as everything we flush down the toilet.
When there's too much liquid sloshing around, the overflow ends up in the river.
The latest: The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services issued an advisory yesterday warning folks to avoid contact with the Willamette downstream of the Ross Island Bridge.
The overflow is roughly 80% stormwater and 20% sewage.
Yes, but: Before the Big Pipe was completed in 2011 — one of the city's most expensive infrastructure projects at $1.4 billion — overflows happened around 50 times a year.
These days, we see an average of four, with the current overflow being the third this calendar year.
