law

Legal protections for the Spokane River:

the federal Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that water pollution problems in the Spokane River must be fixed. When the CWA was passed by Congress in 1972, it directed the states to establish water quality standards for virtually every water body in the nation in order to protect public uses, including water supply, fisheries and recreation.

Washington state complied by establishing water quality standards for the Spokane River (along with all other rivers, streams and lakes around the state). Those standards can be reviewed by clicking here.

Among other requirements, the standards require that Spokane River and Lake Spokane contain dissolved oxygen sufficient to sustain the River’s native redband rainbow trout populations. Because the River does not meet the standards, it is listed on Washington’s 303(d) list, an inventory of water bodies that are impaired for water quality.

Once a water body has been listed on the 303(d) list, the Department of Ecology must develop a water quality clean-up plan. That clean-up plan is called a Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL. Ecology’s TMDL website is here.

The Department of Ecology will release the dissolved oxygen TMDL for the Spokane River on September 12, 2007. Click here for Ecology’s Spokane River webpage.

Public participation in the Spokane River clean-up plan adoption is critical! The Department of Ecology has invited the public to learn more about the Dissolved Oxygen TMDL and provide comments. In addition, the Sierra Club and Center for Justice are teaming up to offer a citizens workshop. See our home page for information about dates and locations of these events.

It is noteworthy that, in 2004, the Spokane River polluters teamed up to delay the TMDL, after the Department of Ecology issued a draft Dissolved Oxygen plan that included strict clean-up requirements. The delay was based on a loophole in the Clean Water Act that allows parties to ask the state to weaken water quality standards. Spokane River polluters used this process, called a Use Attainability Analysis or UAA, to ask Ecology to weaken the DO standard for the Spokane River. Instead of turning down the polluters as it should have, Ecology agreed to a negotiation that stretched from 90 days to 18 months. The result is a unique implementation plan (called the MIP) which contains both good elements and bad. The major concern is that, if Spokane River polluters are unable to meet the DO standard within 10 years, then Ecology has agreed to weaken the standards rather than push the dischargers harder. For more info on this issue, see our MIP page.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides a good overview of the TMDL process. Click here to view.