U.S. Water News Online
YAKIMA, Wash. -- The state Department of Ecology has completed its revision of Washington's water quality standards with changes designed to better prevent pollution and provide more protection for threatened fish.
``In developing the standards, we really did our best to balance what (were) sometimes very sharp, conflicting perspectives,'' said Tom Fitzsimmons, Ecology director.
``We did this by figuring out what we think are real-world solutions to the conflicts.''
The changes have been almost 10 years in the works and are supposed to reflect not only new science but new state and federal requirements for keeping water clean and safe.
``Ecology spent the past decade developing this proposal so that it would protect the environment yet be reasonable to implement,'' Fitzsimmons said.
``We believe we have achieved the goal of preserving water quality without creating undue burdens on businesses, cities or farms.''
Among the most significant rules changes are requirements to keep water in rivers and streams cooler for temperature-sensitive fish, such as bull trout and Dolly Varden, a char. Earlier rules dealt only with salmon, which can thrive in slightly warmer water.
For example, the new temperature standard in uppermost or highest elevation headwaters is 53.6 degrees, which is colder than the old standard and designed to protect char, said Leslie Thorpe, a spokeswoman for the Ecology Department.
It would affect waterways such as the Cascade River, a tributary of the Skagit River, in the Mount Baker National Forest. Most char rivers are in high-elevation forested areas.
The rules also are written to better prevent pollution of pristine waters and to help clean up bodies of water that fail to meet standards.
Under the new rules, if a new business wanted a discharge permit for a body of water that had been designated as clean, the business would have to show it was using the best management and treatment processes to minimize any pollution -- and that the pollution had been determined to be an acceptable trade-off for a public benefit, such as creating jobs in a community.
Under the old standards, it wasn't always clear for which uses the bodies of water were being protected. The rules revisions are written in ``plain English'' and organized to be easier to understand.
Draft standards were circulated earlier this year, and eight public meetings were held across the state. The department received more than 1,400 comment letters by the March deadline.
The updated standards must still be approved by the federal government before they take effect.
``On balance, it's fair to say they are on the whole more stringent,'' Fitzsimmons said. ``We think they are more protective of water quality.''
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