BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Friday, October 17, 2003 12:00 am
Frustration with a federally-required report about impaired streams and water bodies bubbled up Thursday during a Casper workshop, sponsored by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Workshop participants - industry representatives, conservation district members, environmentalists, and state and federal agency staff - got an advance look at a draft "Total Maximum Daily Load" (TMDL) program report compiled by the DEQ.
All participants could find fault with the report, mostly because it lacked desired data of various interest groups. Conservation districts wanted more details of their work reflected in the report; environmentalists wanted details of the severity of pollution and an assessment of whether streams were getting better or worse; while DEQ staff said that if more data is wanted, then more staff, budget and equipment is needed.
Required by the Clean Water Act, the TMDL report lists bodies of water that are considered impaired, as well as waters that are either improving or have started implementing improvement plans.
TMDL means the sum of wasteloads for point sources (like factories) and for nonpoint sources (like pastures or city streets), and natural background, plus a margin of safety.
According to DEQ officials at the workshop meeting, the upcoming 2004 TMDL list adds four stream segments to the impaired list, for a total of 58 impaired bodies of water. An impaired body of water automatically requires development of a TMDL plan.
Another 28 streams were delisted - most because TMDL plans have been approved and are under way.
According to DEQ statistics, only 4,574 miles of streams have been fully assessed for impairment, of 131,000 total miles in the state.
None of the new impaired streams were listed because of coalbed methane development. One was designated impaired due to chloride and selenium contaminants from the Hamilton Dome oil field, while the others were listed due to fecal coliform or e-coli contamination that would present a hazard to human health during water recreation activities.
The monitoring report in the draft TMDL report indicated that DEQ is still building a body of water quality monitoring data from 20 fixed stations in the coalbed methane region of northeast Wyoming. The objective is to determine baseline water quality and biological conditions at areas unaffected by CBM discharges, and to determine conditions in streams currently receiving CBM effluent.
Background
The first list of impaired streams in Wyoming was generated in 1996. Based on interviews with interested parties, DEQ assembled a list of almost 360 impaired streams, explained Beth Pratt, program manager for the DEQ's Watershed Program. After being sued in 1998, and after the state Legislature required adequate data for an impaired listing, the list of impaired streams was trimmed to around 60, she said.
Since then, new streams are added or deleted every two years, Pratt said. Deletions can occur not only because conditions have improved, but because a TMDL plan has been developed, been approved and is being implemented.
"This is a snapshot, based on limited resources," Pratt said, who noted that Wyoming has 131,000 miles of streams to evaluate. The vast majority of stream miles have not been monitored, she added. Many impaired streams are listed on the basis of very slender data that points somewhere upstream as the source of pollution and doesn't say how far downstream that pollution extends, she acknowledged.
Ideally, when an impaired stream is identified, a gung-ho conservation district partners up with DEQ and starts filling in the data gaps and begins work to reduce contaminants, whether the source is known or not, Pratt said.
One of the best examples is the Sheridan County Conservation District, Pratt said, which does additional monitoring and implements "best management" practices to reduce pollution.
"That's our overall philosophy," said Bobbie Frank, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts (WACD). Conservation districts don't want to wait until every foot of streambed has been exhaustively monitored before district members start work to improve water quality.
Steve Jones, an attorney with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, had several problems with the proposed TMDL report.
"When it lists a reason for impairment, such as e-coli, it doesn't indicate whether it barely exceeds standards or is extremely serious," Jones said.
Jones also wanted access to the raw data, but was told that it could amount to several filing cabinets. Pratt said the department is making progress toward putting more and more data on an Internet site, where citizens could eventually get as much detail as they want or need.
"Is there any way to tell whether conditions are getting worse or better?" Jones asked. DEQ staff said that in many cases, there isn't enough data.