Scientists Steadily Gather Metals Data Epa Probe Of Cda River System Adds Impetus To Group’S Work

Snapping photos from airplanes, drilling for ground water, digging into rock piles, setting up an elaborate water quality sampling system.

While others debate the value and cost of a Coeur d’Alene River basin study, scientists are moving full steam ahead to determine the extent of mining-related metals contamination and its impact on human health and the environment.

“There’s a lot going on,” Anne Dailey of the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday. “By next fall, we’ll be having meetings to share this data.”

Dailey was among speakers at a meeting of the Coeur d’Alene Basin Interagency Group. CBIG - known as “see-big” - was formed a decade ago to get scientists from different agencies to share information about the metals problem.

Now that the EPA has launched a full-scale investigation of the river system, CBIG members think their role is even more important.

Mary Lou Reed, member of a Coeur d’Alene basin citizens advisory committee, agreed. She’s concerned about cleanup decisions being mired in politics.

“This basin really needs CBIG at this point, really needs the input from those of you who know what’s going on,” said Reed, a former state senator.

Geoff Harvey of the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality noted there are other important issues that need discussion, too. One issue is pending limits that will be set on the amount of nutrients going into the waterways such as Wolf Lodge Creek. Those limits could affect fishing, farming, mining and other activities.

CBIG organizers will discuss the possibility of meeting monthly rather than the usual every-other-month schedule.

Wednesday’s presentations covered a wide array of topics. Among them:

Aerial photos. Pictures taken last September, mostly of the Upper Coeur d’Alene River Basin, will be used to make detailed topographic maps and to estimate the amount of metals in remaining mine tailing piles. The 627 pictures are available from the EPA and are archived at the North Idaho College library.

Anyone can order copies; the photos also will be available soon on CD-ROM, Dailey said.

Trout. EPA scientists were pleased to get 40,000 bull trout eggs from a hatchery that could be used to test the impact of cadmium and zinc on fish development. Because bull trout are an endangered species, they’re rarely available for study. The tests will be done in late April, Dailey said, and the results will be valuable to various people trying to save the bull trout.

Water quality. U.S. Geological Survey scientists were excited to get money from the EPA to set up a series of stations along the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene rivers. Although the USGS has long tracked the amount of water flowing, it has known far less about how much sediment the streams carry. Eventually, the agency hopes to accurately measure and predict how much lead, zinc and cadmium are being carried downstream, and when.

“The current network of 24 stations has been running since October,” said Paul Woods of USGS. The network will be especially valuable in the weeks ahead, as spring runoff surges into the rivers.

Pine Creek mines. The Bureau of Land Management continues its cleanup along a major tributary of the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. Eight historic mines and their tailings piles have been pouring metals into Pine Creek. Last year’s work included closing mine entrances for safety reasons; spreading topsoil, planting willows and thimbleberries; and sweeping out and hosing down the ramshackle remains of historic buildings.

Stretches of creek that have been stabilized stayed put during high water for several years, said BLM’s David Fortier. He noted that the problems facing Pine Creek are repeated in draws throughout the Silver Valley.

Cleanup standards. “How do you know when you’re done?” Gonzaga University researcher Hugh Lefcort asked rhetorically. He’s trying to figure out at what point metals have been sufficiently removed from the waterways so that expensive cleanup efforts can end.

Lefcort has proved that the presence of metals in water makes snails move even slower, even less likely to avoid predators. He knows at what level the metals no longer affect their behavior. Last summer he confirmed his laboratory results in the field by studying snails in lakes along the lower Coeur d’Alene River.