Regional Pollution Study Sought Nobody Knows How Many Tons Of Heavy Metals Have Reached The Spokane River This Year

Washington officials are calling for a regional study of heavy metals washing into the Spokane River from Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The metals are a legacy of a century of mining in Idaho’s Silver Valley.

A comprehensive regional approach is needed so toxic concentrations of heavy metals in the Spokane River can eventually be eliminated, says Washington’s top water quality official at the Department of Ecology.

“Ecology would like to begin the dialogue between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the states for achieving this goal,” said Michael Llewelyn, water quality program manager.

He made the request in a June 4 letter to regional EPA officials in Seattle and to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality in Boise.

The Spokane River exceeds state water-quality standards for zinc, lead and cadmium at the state line, according to a recent Ecology report.

“Mercury and copper were also found in concentrations which also warrant concern,” Llewelyn said.

He noted the report does not address the potential cumulative toxic effects of elevated metal concentrations in the river.

Nobody knows how many tons of heavy metals washed into Coeur d’Alene Lake by this year’s floods have reached the Spokane River.

That’s because there’s been no comprehensive study, said Mike Beckwith of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Beckwith presented the agency’s new findings Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene on additional tons of lead, zinc and mine sediments washed into the lake from the Silver Valley during this year’s floods.

“We didn’t sample what was coming out of the lake. It would have been a perfect opportunity,” Beckwith said.

, DataTimes