Washington State Department of Ecology

Publication Summary

Title

Metals Concentrations in Rivers and Streams Dropped from the 1994 Section 303(d) List

Month-Year Published

September 1995

Online Availability

View this publication in Acrobat PDF format

1689 kilobytes, requires version 4.0 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader Software get Acrobat Reader

Short Description

The state of Washington adopted new Water Quality Standards for dissolved metals in 1992. These changes in standards, combined with the lack of compatible data, resulted in the removal of 48 of the 61 locations considered for listing in the draft 1994 303(d) list. Follow-up low-level metals information collected in May and September of 1994 at these 48 locations showed their removal is supported by in-stream metals concentrations. However, five locations did have metals concentrations that were more than one-third the chronic criteria.

(Also see abstract below)

Publication Number

95-352

Author(s)

Hopkins, B.

Print Availability

Request from the program.

Number of pages

24 pp. + app. (33 total)

Keywords

creek, metals, river, standards, stream, water, water quality, water quality standards

Subject Waterbodies

Nooksack River, Clear Creek, Silver Creek, Skagit River, Stillaguamish River, Snohomish River, Juanita Creek, Forbes Creek, Yarrow Bay Creek, Fairweather Bay Creek, Kelsey Creek, Thornton Creek, Mcaleer Creek, Lyon Creek, North Creek, Sammamish River, Little Bear Creek, Issaquah Creek, Tibbetts Creek, Coal Creek, May Creek, Cedar River, Mercer Slough, Green River, Puyallup River, Nisqually River, Deschutes River, Salzer Creek, Cowlitz River, Cougar Canyon Creek, Burnt Bridge Creek, Palouse River, Sulphur Creek Wasteway, Crystal Creek, Little Spokane River, Spokane River, Columbia River, Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake

Abstract

Long Description

These five locations were: Juanita Creek, Fairweather Bay tributary, Little Bear Creek, Fife Ditch, and Salzer Creek. Only one of the five, Fife Ditch, should be considered for continued metals monitoring. This recommendation is based on: (1) the elevated arsenic concentration in May 1994 that was more than one-half the chronic criteria, and (2) the proximity of this location to a potential source.

This page last updated October 8, 2008