More could qualify for the EPA's "dirty water list"

 

 

 The Clean Water Act, enacted in 1972, was designed to protect America's waterways from pollution and identify problem rivers for rehabilitation.

 

The mandate requires that rivers and streams be made safe for breeding fish and safe for swimming. Individual states are responsible for the management of water quality and for compiling The National Water Quality Inventory in order to allocate funding for Clean Water Act programs. Unfortunately the NWQI has drawn much criticism over the years, both from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER #27 Report,

 

May 1999) and more recently , the General Accounting Office( GAO/rced-00-54, March 2000) The GAO Report  stated that "key EPA and state decisions with regard to stream water quality were limited by inconsistent data." "A major reason," the report states, "is that states assess only a small percentage of the waters in the United States."

 

Specifically, only about 19% of the nations rivers and streams. Another effort put forth by Max Casebeau and the Center for Environmental Education and Information based in Sun Valley, Idaho may bridge the survey gap and shed light on the condition of "Unnamed Streams" which have never been listed or studied. Using factors of terrain, climate and  land use, Casebeau estimates 400,000 streams may be overlooked by states because they are unnamed and therefore unlisted. In addition to those streams that have been cited in the GAO reports. "It is obvious that the smaller streams contribute to the overall degradation of the nations waterways. Why are they not listed? " The CEEI web site is at <www.apsrs.org>

 

Casebeau was drawn to the issue of unnamed streams in 1994, while following a court case filed by Ron Mitchell of the Idaho Sporting Congress against the EPA and the National Forest Service over logging practices. Mitchell turned up 972 polluted streams in Idaho while state reports had found only 34. Since then the state has removed 200 of those streams from the list, yet the implication remains that a multitude of unreported polluted streams exist across the United States. "We need a new survey in order to understand the magnitude better. We need to know locally what the impact of this is as well as to better define the problems, there are 600 more documented streams that are not on the Idaho current list" stated Mitchell. (All 21840 streams are listed by state).

 

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 knows these waterways well "I have walked cow trampled streams that have long since supported fish life. Salmon life is all about these unnamed streams that are abused and trampled to death by cattle, said Marvel.

 

"What we have are two huge cans of worms that have been simply over looked by congress for the last 24 years"  "The GAO reports are shattering and unfortunately the national media simply doesn't understand the magnitude of the problem." CEEI is now researching state by state to come up with an estimate of what the total stream pollution problem may be.

 

"We need a new survey that will look at both public and private land with a comprehensive survey of the whole geographical limits of the United States not just 19 % of it." Says Casebeau Based of this information we have no idea of the condition of the streams, nor do we have any idea the condition of  our fresh water fish resources." Says Casebeau both the Clean Water and Endangered Species Act need attention and at this rate both are terribly under funded"

 

The Center For Environmental Education and Information web site contains detailed information on the issue of" unnamed streams" and calls for a new and comprehensive survey "which will enhance the effectiveness of the Clean Water Act," according to Casebeau. In response to government claims that a thorough survey would be cost prohibitive, the CEEI promotes the Adopt-A-Stream Programs to engage church and school groups in the effort to list, name and survey the unnamed streams "It is an Faith Based Environmental program that will clean up as well as name the streams for the people that do it "  It is a chance to honor local citizens and bring attention to the quality of obscure waterways. It is the hope of Casebeau  and CEEI that water quality could be reported some day soon by high school  students as well