Thousands of unnamed streams overlooked by EPA

Mountain Gazette #82 Sept / October 2001

 

There could be 10 to 20 times the number of polluted streams in the United States than originally thought, according to two Idaho organizations calling for a new survey on the country1s waterways. The Idaho Watershed Project and the Idaho Sporting Congress estimate that there are 400,000 streams that are not found on an EPA database, and therefore cannot be considered for clean up.

 

Max Casebeau of the Center for Environmental Education and Information, based in Sun Valley, Idaho, is heading up the effort to bridge the survey gap and shed light on the condition of the streams that have never been listed or studied.  "It is obvious that the smaller streams contribute to the overall degradation of the nation1s waterways. Why are they not listed?2 Casebeau asks.

 

According to the General Accounting Office, the condition of only 19 percent of the nation1s rivers and streams have been reported. On a national level, there are 21,309 streams that meet the EPA criteria for water pollution, but the last survey taken on unstudied waterways was back in 1992. A 3polluted2 stream, according to the EPA, is one in which fish can1t reproduce and people are advised not to swim.

 

 Casebeau was drawn to the issue of unlisted streams in 1994, while following a court case filed against the EPA and the U.S. Forest Service over logging practices, when evidence turned up 972 polluted streams in Idaho while state reports had found only 34, implicating that a multitude of unreported polluted streams exist across the United States. In a related case filed by Jon Marvel of the Idaho Watersheds Project aimed at identifying stream degradation from ranching along the East Fork of the Salmon River, problems arose in court proceedings when diversion streams could not be identified because they were unnamed. Marvel said he knows these waterways well. "I have walked cow-trampled streams that have long stopped supported fish life. "Salmon life is all about these unnamed streams that are abused and trampled to death by cattle", he said.

 

The Center For Environmental Education and Information web site contains detailed information on the issue and calls for a new and comprehensive survey, that will improve the effectiveness of the Clean Water Act. In response to government claims that a thorough survey would be cost-prohibitive, the group promotes the Adopt-A-Stream Program to engage churches and schools in the effort to list, name and survey the unnamed streams. For more information on this effort, visit www.apsrs.org