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Department of Ecology News Release - October 21, 2004
04-193
SPOKANE - If you've wondered about those water-quality standards that the Colville, Pend Oreille and other water bodies need to meet, here's your chance to find out.
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is holding an educational workshop on the state's standards for "surface" waters (water in underground aquifers has a different set of standards to meet) from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 4, at the Community Colleges of Spokane, Colville Center/Rendezvous Theater, 985 S. Elm St. in Colville.
Water-quality standards are used to measure whether bodies of surface water are meeting the requirements of the state and federal clean-water acts. Water bodies that do not meet the standards for different parameters are required to undergo a cleanup planning process. Examples of problems the cleanup plans are developed to address include temperatures too warm for fish, excessive fecal-coliform bacteria or too little oxygen in the water.
A plan to improve water quality (sometimes called a total maximum daily load, or TMDL) is being developed for the Colville River to clean up fecal-coliform bacteria. Another plan is being prepared for streams and rivers within the Colville National Forest to solve temperature and fecal-coliform problems in some streams in the forest.
"This will be a good primer for those in northeastern Washington interested in improving water quality in their area," said Karin Baldwin, who coordinates the Colville River cleanup. "This is a great way for campers, boaters, people who raise cattle and the general public to find out how these standards are set and why."
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Media contact: Jani Gilbert, public information manager, 509-329-3495; pager, 509-622-3073
Cleanup-planning Web site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/links/impaired_wtrs.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
