Lake Roosevelt study under way

NORTHPORT, Wash. – At an impasse with a Canadian firm over cleaning waste from a lead and zinc smelter a few miles north in Trail, B.C., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month launched a $20 million study to determine if the beaches, fish and plants along Lake Roosevelt are safe for humans.

The study comes six years after it was requested by the Colville Confederated Tribes, whose reservation borders the lake. Fish, already the subject of a consumption health advisory for humans, will be studied starting this fall.

The study is expected to determine if people’s health or the environment is at risk, show if a cleanup program is needed and develop cleanup options.

The U.S. Geological Survey recently released results of a 2002 study of sediment cores taken at six locations on Lake Roosevelt. It contends that decades of liquid effluent from the Teck Cominco smelter contributed most of the heavy metals detected in the samples. The tests also showed that slag particles in some sediments were breaking down and could release more contamination.

An official said the new report should be ready by early next year.