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Department of Ecology News Release - February 8, 2008
08-034
OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) invites the public to comment on its updated assessment of water quality in the state, which includes the most-current list of polluted waters.
The online 2008 Water Quality Assessment is the latest picture of the state’s water quality. It helps the state and local partners prioritize which polluted waters to clean up.
“This assessment is based on the most credible and reliable monitoring information we’ve had about Washington’s waters,” said Dave Peeler, manager of Ecology’s water quality program. “This extremely focused attention turns up water quality information on hundreds of waters in the state. In many cases, the assessment verifies that we are already tackling the important water quality priorities.”
The assessment, which is required by the federal Clean Water Act, is a combination of the state’s updated list of polluted waters plus a status of all state waters. It includes both data about water quality taken in the water column as well as data about sediment quality taken from fresh and marine waters. The assessment is based on data about waters that Ecology received or collected as of December 2006. Ecology last issued its assessment in 2004, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved in 2005.
Ecology uses the assessment to identify pollution problems and set priorities for improving water quality so water can be safe for swimming, fish habitat and drinking. Ecology based the 2008 assessment on updated water quality standards Ecology submitted to the EPA in December 2006. The new standards require colder water to assure healthy summertime spawning and rearing habitat for endangered fish.
New to the 2008 Water Quality Assessment:
Ecology’s preliminary comparisons between the 2004 and 2008 Water Quality Assessment find:
“The trend for increased numbers of temperature listings is most likely because we’re looking more closely than ever at water temperature as an indicator of healthy salmon habitat so we can protect and restore threatened and endangered salmon,” said Susan Braley, Ecology’s project manager of the assessment. “Salmon need cold water to survive and thrive.”
Braley added that the number of listings in the draft assessment is in the thousands. “We reviewed and loaded data from more than 4,000 locations into the new assessment and some of this information was from places we’ve never before sampled – that’s a lot of new information.”
Ecology has posted the assessment on its website as a package of Internet tools. The tools include interactive maps and lists that allow people to customize and sort areas by geographic location, pollutant type, degree of concern and other factors. Ecology is holding workshops to demonstrate how to access the information using an interactive mapping tool and simple query tool.
Ecology encourages people who want to comment on the assessment to review waters they are familiar with and comment on where they see problems or disagree with the assessment results. If people disagree with the assessment results, please provide Ecology with an explanation and additional information submitted to support the finding.
Please submit comments to 303d@ecy.wa.gov or by mail to Ken Koch, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600. These must be postmarked by no later than 5 p.m., March 21. People may direct questions about the assessment to Ecology’s Koch at 360-407- 6782.
The next workshops coming up are as follows:
The draft 2008 Water Quality Assessment is online at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/303d/2008/index.html.
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Media Contact: Sandy Howard, 360-407-6408; (cell) 360-791-3177; srud461@ecy.wa.gov
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
