Late last week, we were forwarded an email from Greg Clark with the U.S. Geological Survey, whose team did some water monitoring during the flood event January 18th of this year. The monitoring in Harrison, where the Coeur d’Alene River flows into Coeur d’Alene Lake, shows that the conveyor belt of contamination from the upper basin to the lower basin was particularly bad during the flood this year.
According to Clark’s email, a measurement of the concentration of lead in the water at Harrison was the second highest ever recorded, the highest being a major flood in 1996. Also, the sample had the highest concentration of zinc and highest concentration of cadmium in more than 20 years. Clark said, “Based on these numbers, the load of lead delivered to the lake on January 18 alone was about 160 metric tons, or about 75% of the mean annual load of lead delivered to the lake during 2004 through 2009.” (Our emphasis.) However, Clark noted that sampling at the Lake’s outlet on January 20 was low, indicating that most of the lead settled to the lake bottom.
More disturbingly, however, is the measurement of flooding right before the peak. According to Clark, the river flow at Cataldo was higher than what was measured at the peak of the 2008 flood, but river the flow at Harrison was quite a bit lower. Clark says that this flow data indicates that a great deal of the water — and its accompanying sediment and metal contamination — was dumped into the lateral lakes along the lower basin. As Clark somewhat understated it in the email: “Obviously not good news as far as wildlife is concerned.”
Terry, Is anyone speculating why this would be the case? I don’t get it.
Susan, I’m sure people are speculating all over the place. I’ll speculate that it’s just that each flood event has its own characteristics — this one may have been just bigger and faster than usual due to precipitation, temperature, and timing. Or, there may have also been some particular “hot spots” or drainages that were more impacted in this event than in prior ones.
Regardless, this huge impact from one day of flooding just emphasizes the need to get on with the cleanup, sooner rather than later.
This information also show that the Old Mission Repository has failed!
Speak up, get calls into Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator immediately to stop the Mission Repository and conduct permanent waste technolgoy.
Jackson.lisap@epa.gov phone: 202-564-4700. We know here office is listening and now needs to talk directly to Region Ten!
Having spent some time doing fieldwork in the Silver Valley last summer and seeing the incredible concentration of toxic mine waste from Mullan to Cataldo, it is not surprising that the semi-annual flooding would produce a tremendous spike in heavy metal pollution downstream. The floodplain will only continue, in my opinion, to leach pollution downstream until the EPA and DEQ begin to actually clean, rather than further concentrate the waste. I heard from many in the valley who are very frustrated that their perceptions of this environment and their very lives are brushed off as part of the “collateral damage” necessary to continue mining. The East Mission Flats repository is most notable. The people of the valley need to be equal players in any decision about the cleanup, not simply the victims of decisions made in Seattle or Washington.
[…] than it was in the 70s, but few understood that mining wastes remain a problem and few knew that metals are still entering the lake. Residents were generally aware of bank erosion problems from boat wakes, and they were generally […]
Is there any grants or money out there to help people along the CDA River on bank erosion. We’ve lived in the Cataldo area for ten years and have had no luck in helping us keep our banks. Our recent purchased neighbors came in and put large boulders on their banks which increased our erosion. How they were able to disturb the river flow, we don’t know, but because if it we now have worse problems. We lose property each year, but they increased our property taxes. If any help is out there we sure would appreciate any advice.
That’s a HUGE problem. Your best bet, probably, would be to contact Idaho Natural Resources Conservation Service, which has been working on bank stabilization work in the region for quite some time. Otherwise, maybe the Kootenai-Shoshone Soil and Water Conservation District can help. Good luck. And feel free to give us a call in the office on Monday, and maybe we can come up with some more ideas.
[…] Recent data presented to a committee of the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission, the agency responsible for monitoring and guiding cleanup efforts, showed that, indeed, January flooding caused widespread contamination. […]
[…] With each flood season, historic mine wastes continue to contaminate some 160 miles of shoreline and…. As a result, the basin constitutes one of the largest and most expensive Superfund cleanups in the U.S. The metals, which are at levels above federal health-based cleanup standards, are a danger to both humans who live and play in the region, as well as fish and wildlife that live there. For example, annually, some 150 tundra swans die from lead poisoning related causes during their migration stopover. […]
[…] Superfund cleanup isn’t limited to the Silver Valley. The Coeur d’Alene River, the chain lakes and wetlands from Cataldo to Harrison are contaminated with heavy metals from the last century of mining upstream. Every flood season, another layer of contamination is deposited throughout the drainage. […]
[…] With each flood season, historic mine wastes continue to contaminate some 160 miles of shoreline and…. As a result, the basin constitutes one of the largest and most expensive Superfund cleanups in the U.S. The metals, which are at levels above federal health-based cleanup standards, are a danger to both humans who live and play in the region, as well as fish and wildlife that live there. For example, annually, some 150 tundra swans die from lead poisoning related causes during their migration stopover. […]
[…] than it was in the 70s, but few understood that mining wastes remain a problem and few knew that metals are still entering the lake. Residents were generally aware of bank erosion problems from boat wakes, and they were generally […]
[…] 3. January Flooding May Have Caused the Worst Coeur d’Alene Basin Contamination in Years […]
[…] 3. January Flooding May Have Caused the Worst Coeur d’Alene Basin Contamination in Years […]