Deadline: Ongoing Action
Why this Matters
If you have ever checked the water before letting kids splash near the creek mouths along Waldport's beaches or out at Alsea Bay, you have benefited from the BEACH Act. It funds the water-quality testing that tells us when bacteria levels make it unsafe to go in.
Congress is now deciding whether to keep that program going. The Surfrider Foundation reports that the BEACH Act reauthorization passed the U.S. House on March 24, 2026 as part of the American Water Stewardship Act (H.R. 6422), by a vote of 378 to 32. It now waits on the U.S. Senate. The update would continue funding beach water testing and add new flexibility, including testing the streams that flow across the sand, where Surfrider often finds high bacteria and where children often play without knowing.
Oregon's senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, have not yet taken this up in the Senate. A quick message through Surfrider's form asks them to move it forward. ECC is amplifying Surfrider's national action because clean water at our own beaches depends on it.
Steps to Take
Send a message to your senators through the Surfrider Foundation action form. It fills in the right senators from your address; Oregon entries reach Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. You can send the prewritten letter as-is or add a line of your own.
If you have a minute, add a sentence about why our coast matters to you. A specific detail, like checking the water at the Alsea River mouth before your kids wade in, lands harder than a form letter alone.
Share the action with a neighbor who surfs, fishes, or walks the beach. The more Oregon voices the senators hear, the better the odds the Senate moves this bill.