U.S. Water News Online
BOISE, Idaho -- The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a water quality standard for the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River that allows twice as much zinc and 12 times as much lead as the national standard.
The agency announced it would allow Idaho to use the state standard -- based on local conditions in the river basin -- rather than the national standard.
``This is a common-sense approach to protecting water quality,'' said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. ``I am pleased that the federal government has recognized the need for this type of flexibility to assure that local economic and environmental interests are taken into consideration.''
Chris Mebane, water quality standards manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said the department has studied the issue for eight years.
``We have been doing studies with the native fish and aquatic insects in the South Fork Coeur d'Alene and the results of the studies show that for the community the criteria would be sufficiently protective,'' Mebane said.
The national standard is stringent to make sure it applies to all the different types of organisms that live in streams, rivers and lakes throughout the country, he said.
His department looked at animals including mayflies, stoneflies and trout in the unpolluted headwaters of the river and in similar rivers to see if the creatures could withstand higher levels of zinc and lead.
The new standards will still require major cleanup efforts to reduce the pollution in the river, he said.
``By the time the river gets down to Smelterville or Kellogg, the concentrations of zinc in the water are probably eight to 10 times higher than the new criteria. It's still a long way to go, but instead of shooting for something that's unattainable, it brings a cleanup goal closer to something they can do,'' Mebane said.
The new standards will also be used to set future discharge limits for the mines discharging wastewater to the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River.
More than 100 years of silver mining in northern Idaho's Silver Valley has flowed from South Fork Coeur d'Alene River into Lake Coeur d'Alene, then to the headwaters of the Spokane River, which flows into Washington state and eventually to the Columbia River.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies are working to clean up the pollution.
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