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| Title | Metal Concentrations in the Spokane River During Spring 1997. Memo to J. Manning and C. Nuechterlein, August 26, 1997. | |||
| Month-Year Published | August 1997 | |||
| Online Availability |
584 kilobytes, requires version 4.0 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader Software get Acrobat Reader
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| Short Description |
During the unusually high flows experienced in the Spokane River in April - June 1997, dissolved zinc and dissolved lead consistently exceeded EPA 1995 water quality criteria by factors of 2 to 6, from above the state line in Idaho (river mile 98.7) to Riverside State Park (river mile 66.2). The zinc and lead criteria were also exceeded in a sample collected below Long Lake (river mile 33.3). Dissolved cadmium slightly exceeded criteria at the state line. Dissolved copper was not above criteria. The 1995 EPA criteria will replace current state standards in November of this year. (Also see abstract below) | |||
| Publication Number | 97-e02 | |||
| Author(s) | Hopkins, B. and A. Johnson | |||
| Print Availability |
Not maintained in stock. Copy must be made from archive version.
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| Number of pages | 23 pp. | |||
| Keywords | ambient monitoring, bill, cadmium, copper, flow, lake, lead, manning, metals, methods, monitoring, order, river, Spokane River, stream, survey, water, water quality, zinc | |||
| Subject Waterbodies |
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| Abstract | Long Description |
During the unusually high flows experienced in the Spokane River in April - June 1997, dissolved zinc and dissolved lead consistently exceeded EPA 1995 water quality criteria by factors of 2 to 6, from above the state line in Idaho (river mile 98.7) to Riverside State Park (river mile 66.2). The zinc and lead criteria were also exceeded in a sample collected below Long Lake (river mile 33.3). Dissolved cadmium slightly exceeded criteria at the state line. Dissolved copper was not above criteria. The 1995 EPA criteria will replace current state standards in November of this year. The levels of lead, 1.38 - 2.69 ug/L (parts per billion), were higher than all but two measurements since Ecology began monitoring dissolved metals in the river in 1992. The zinc and cadmium levels (42.0 - 119 ug/L and 0.120 - 0.440 ug/L, respectively) are similar to what has been found from previous sampling during the high flow season. Metal concentrations at the state line were indistinguishable from those measured 2.5 miles upstream in Idaho and comparable to concentrations measured at Post Falls by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), showing the source of contamination is in Idaho. The concentrations of dissolved zinc, lead, and cadmium in the Spokane River are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude (i.e., factors of 10 -100) higher than other major rivers in Washington. The Spokane is the only major river in the state known to exceed water quality criteria for metals. A comparison of results from quarter point and bank sampling demonstrated that the data obtained with the bridge sampling methods used by Ecology′s Ambient Monitoring Program are not subject to contamination and are representative of dissolved metals concentrations in the river. |
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