Beach pollution safe in low doses

If you camp on the sandy beaches of Lake Roosevelt for no more than two weeks a year, the lead and arsenic on the ground aren’t likely to cause harm, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.

But it will take more time to determine whether the pollution from a Canadian smelter is more dangerous to people who spend more time on the beaches, or who eat lots of fish from the lake, the EPA said.

The preliminary findings for 15 beaches, released Monday, were intended for the thousands of people who visit the Coulee Dam National Recreation Area in the summer months.

The EPA, at the request of the Colville Confederated Tribes, took soil and fish tissue samples from the lake last year, and Monday’s findings were the first to be released. Additional findings are expected later this year, the EPA said.

The beaches were tested for arsenic, lead, copper, pesticides and other pollutants, many originating for decades from the lead smelter just north of the border in Trail, British Columbia, the EPA said. Lake Roosevelt is the portion of the Columbia River behind Grand Coulee Dam.

However, an environmental group said it is too soon to give a clean bill of health until additional studies are done.

“There should be some postings letting people know they (beaches) are safe only for this limited use,” said Amber Waldref of The Lands Council in Spokane. Marc Stifelman of the EPA said no warning signs are contemplated as a result of the study.

D.R. Michel, a Colville Confederated Tribes Business Council member and chairman of the tribes’ Natural Resource Committee, called the report findings premature.

“It doesn’t really address concerns we have had all along about long-term use and living on the site, and fish consumption and other sources of exposure and contamination,” Michel said. “It only addresses … recreation.”

The pollution is from past activities at the Teck Cominco Ltd. lead and zinc smelter in Trail. The smelter stopped dumping slag, the byproducts of smelting, into the river in the early 1990s, Stifelman said.

Last week, the U.S. government announced an agreement with Teck Cominco, of Vancouver, British Columbia, to pay for a study of heavy-metal pollution in the Columbia River. The settlement is the result of a lawsuit filed in 2004 by the Colville Tribes, whose reservation is along the lake, and the state of Washington. Stifelman said the agreement and the study results announced Monday are not connected.

The screening found that 12 of the 15 beaches were safely below health risk standards for all the contaminants tested. The 12 are Spring Canyon, Keller Ferry, Lincoln, Columbia, Rogers Bar, AA Encampment, North Gifford, French Rocks, Haag Cove, Kettle Falls, Marcus Island and North Gorge.

Three beaches near the Canadian border – Black Sand, Northport and Dalles – had levels of arsenic or lead that were slightly above permitted levels and will be studied again. The study did not include more intensive uses of the beaches, such as food gathering, fish consumption, or cultural practices. Those uses will be evaluated later.

The study found that arsenic levels at the three most northern beaches, while still low, were slightly above the amount considered to produce one additional case of cancer per 1 million people, the EPA said. Lead was slightly above the 400 parts per million safety threshold only at Northport, the EPA said.

Public hearings on the findings were planned today in Northport and Wednesday in Colville, the EPA said.