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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cda River Zinc Cleanup Paying Off Headwaters No Longer A Problem, But Levels Overall Still Exceed Water Quality Standards

Efforts to clean up mining pollution in the headwaters of the Coeur d’Alene River are starting to pay off, state officials said Wednesday.

Two years of monitoring finished cleanup projects up Nine-Mile Creek, and along Elizabeth Park on the Coeur d’Alene River, show that those sites are no longer contributing zinc to the river, or are releasing only small amounts, according to the state Division of Environmental Quality.

“Although these are still very preliminary results, they’re the best results we have right now,” said Geoff Harvey, DEQ scientist.

Mining spokeswoman Holly Houston found the results heartening.

“I think it’s better than they were expecting,” she said. “With the joint effort and low cost, it might help us come up with good solutions for the whole basin.”

The two projects that were monitored cost the Silver Valley Natural Resource Trust Fund about $1 million to complete. The fund was created by a $4.5 million settlement between the state and mining companies for resource damages in the Coeur d’Alene Basin.

Harvey claimed the data actually show a decrease in the amount of zinc in the water as it flows through the project sites, indicating that the stream is treating the metals.

Most of the monitoring has been for zinc, which is water-soluble and deadly to fish.

Phil Cernera, manager of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s natural resource damage assessment in the river basin, was skeptical of Harvey’s results, citing questions that were raised over DEQ monitoring that was done in 1994.

“I haven’t seen how Geoff has been doing his monitoring or calculating, but if it’s identical to ‘94, then certainly there’s questions as to the validity,” Cernera said.

Harvey said he’s never had anyone criticize his approach.

Other sources of zinc are still plentiful in the upper river basin, keeping the overall levels of contamination in the river high.

Measurements taken in the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River as it runs through Wallace still exceed federal water quality standards for fish by more than 10 times.

“We’re still talking light years away,” Cernera said.

The tribe has long maintained that the upstream work being done by the Silver Valley Natural Resource trustees won’t do enough to repair damages from heavy metal pollution in the basin, and is pursuing a lawsuit against mining companies to pay for further cleanup.

“But a reduction is a reduction,” Cernera conceded. “You gotta eat the elephant one bite at a time.”

The Silver Valley trustees now are gnawing off chunks of contaminated hillside and stream banks up Canyon Creek near Gem where the old Frisco Mine was.

Residents there are anxious for the work to finish.

“I’ve had a sore throat and bleeding sinuses for 10 days,” said Ruth Duarte, 54, of Gem. Duarte blames the contractor who she said is not watering down the job site or the road in front of her house that they use to haul the toxic dirt.

Duarte said Wednesday was the first day the road had been watered down.

“Every resident here will tell you that the water trucks are not doing what they’re supposed to do,” she said.

But managers with the project claim that measures are being taken to keep the dust under control.

To date, the trustees have removed 16.6 million pounds of lead, 3 million pounds of zinc and 22,000 pounds of cadmium from Canyon Creek at a cost of $2.5 million.

, DataTimes