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Department of Ecology News Release - October 10, 2002
02-190
OLYMPIA - The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) is inviting the public to submit new water quality data to be used in determining which water bodies should be placed on the state's list of polluted lakes, rivers and bays.
Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act requires the state to periodically prepare a list of all surface waters where pollutants have limited the ways in which people can use them for such things as drinking, recreation, aquatic habitat and industry.
The list was last updated in 1998. It is based on all readily available data from both public and private sources.
Ecology will accept data collected by academic institutions, businesses, not-for-profit groups, tribes, quasi-governmental agencies such as watershed planning councils, and private citizens - in addition to data from federal, state and local government agencies.
"Anyone can submit data, and we encourage anyone with an interest in a particular water body to do so," said Megan White, who manages Ecology's water-quality program. "The bottom line is, we need to find out about all the polluted waters in our state so we can best determine how to clean them up."
However, she said, all data submitted to Ecology must have been collected in accordance with a quality assurance plan to make sure it meets scientific standards.
Once the data have been collected, Ecology will place each water body into one of five categories, depending on pollution levels and other factors. All types of pollutants are considered, including fecal coliform, high temperatures, excess nutrients, low levels of dissolved oxygen, and toxins.
Significantly polluted water bodies will be placed on the state's list of polluted waters, and Ecology will work with local communities to prepare comprehensive cleanup plans for each. Ecology also may require stricter pollution limits when issuing permits for water bodies on the list.
Ecology's decision about which waters to place on the list is guided by federal laws, state water-quality standards, and the state's 303(d) policy. The policy was updated recently to help assure that all impaired waters are identified and that no waters are mistakenly labeled as polluted or impaired.
Ecology will accept new data until Dec. 16. All data received by Ecology will be available to the public for future water quality and environmental protection efforts.
More details about the 303(d) process can be found at www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/303d/index.html
Media contact: Leslie Thorpe
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
