Black Rock runoff being tested

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is trying to figure out if water from the exclusive Black Rock development is causing problems for Rockford Bay.

Since August, the DEQ has been monitoring a natural stream that runs off the bluff on which Black Rock sits. The water flows under Rockford Bay Road and into Lake Coeur d’Alene. Usually the stream dries up in the warm months, but neighbors Gordon and Raeann Decker noticed last summer that the water kept coming even when temperatures soared into the 90s.

They called DEQ to ask if it was safe to swim and recreate in the bay.

High levels of fecal coliform bacteria, which are usually related to sewage, were found in water samples from the stream near the Rockford Bay Volunteer Fire Station. But no contamination was found when the stream was retested in April by June Bergquist, DEQ’s regional water quality compliance officer. The bay was never tested.

“It was normal ditch water and that was good news,” she said.

The agency also is monitoring another stream nearby that another neighbor claimed is running year-round.

It’s still unknown exactly why the streams are flowing year-round or what caused the high level of fecal coliform in the one stream last summer.

Bergquist hopes that additional test this August will help explain what is happening.

She speculates that the water may have come from leaks in a water feature near hole 11 on Black Rock’s private golf course.

Black Rock is a 650-acre gated community about 15 miles south of Coeur d’Alene that includes a 31,000-square-foot clubhouse. Joining the club requires customers to buy a $100,000 membership and a residential lot, which start at $200,000.

Bergquist thinks that the water could have kept the stream flowing through the summer and caused a septic drain field for one of the waterfront homes below Black Rock to fail. That would explain why there are high levels of fecal coliform in the stream samples taken below Rockford Bay Road, but normal levels in samples taken from the Black Rock property and the side of the hill.

Because the waterfront homes are only used in the summer, meaning the drain fields aren’t active in the spring, she said that could explain why the April samples were clear.

“It’s just a theory,” Bergquist said Thursday. “We were scratching our heads.”

Because now two streams are full of water, she thinks another possibility is that the excess water is coming from general golf course irrigation, not just the leaky water fixture.

“There’s no conclusion to any of this,” she said.

When Bergquist tests the second stream, she will look for fertilizers and herbicides used by the golf course to make sure those pollutants aren’t dumping into the lake.

Black Rock is the largest development that DEQ has worked with in Kootenai County. Bergquist said many unknowns come with a project that makes such severe alterations to the natural landscape.

“This is a learning situation for us,” she said.

And it’s good preparation. Black Rock isn’t the only proposed large-scale golf resort proposed on a bluff above Lake Coeur d’Alene.

On Wednesday, Discovery Land Company of San Francisco unveiled plans for a private golf course and 375-unit housing development above Arrow Point off Highway 97. The developers say that the 700-acre resort would be similar to Black Rock.

Bergquist said Black Rock officials have been extremely helpful and performed their own water quality tests. This winter, crews also fixed the water feature leaks.

Joe Hassell of Inland Northwest Engineering, who contracts with Black Rock, said he thinks the water is natural and that’s what he anticipates this summer’s tests will prove.

He said the hillside is a mix of bedrock and clay, which makes it difficult for water to penetrate. He said the water collects on top of the bedrock and clay, similar to a saucer, and overflows when it gets full. That’s why he thinks the streams are running year-round.

Still, he said Black Rock wants to make sure it’s not causing any problems for the neighbors or the lake.

“Are we contributing to the increase of water or not?” Hassell asked. “We are in a monitoring phase right now and hope to have some conclusion before the end of summer.”

The golf course has three water features, including a large waterfall. Two pumps suck water from Lake Coeur d’Alene to fill the ponds that make the water features. That water is also used for fire protection and to irrigate the golf course.

Black Rock has its own wastewater treatment facility, but it doesn’t use the treated effluent to irrigate the golf course. Instead, the effluent is used to water poplar trees, Hassell said.