New effort to clean up Spokane River

SPOKANE, Wash. – A 20-year Spokane River cleanup effort that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars was announced Wednesday by civic leaders and the state Department of Ecology.

The plan seeks to reduce phosphorus pollution in the Spokane River by, among other things, building a $100 million wastewater treatment plant and reducing the number of septic tanks in the region.

Every aspect of water use from watering lawns to flushing toilets will be affected.

The goal is to reduce phosphorus in treated wastewater to the same level of phosphorus as would be in the river naturally.

"This is a milestone for the Spokane region," said Dave Peeler, the Ecology Department's water quality director.

"This region will be on the cutting edge of any community in the nation in cleaning up the Spokane River and protecting it for generations to come," said Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke, who with Peeler served as co-chairmen of yearlong negotiations.

Amber Waldref, a clean water activist for The Lands Council, a Spokane environmental group, said her group was pleased with the agreement. She said it will likely prevent litigation, and should be used as a model in the rest of the state.

But one environmental activist called the deal a mixed bag.

"One problem is the false assumption that zero pollution is coming across the state line from Idaho," said Rachael Paschal Osborn of the Spokane chapter of the Sierra Club.

The agreement is also likely to encourage more growth and more septic tanks, she complained.

Osborn also pointed to a spill of raw sewage into the Spokane River that may have been going on for days, but was only detected on Tuesday. Health officials warned against swimming or other recreational use of the river after the leak was discovered.

"The city of Spokane is doing a lousy job of managing the sewer system," Osborn said.

The talks also involved cities and industrial dischargers along the Spokane River in Washington and Idaho. Included were the Liberty Lake Water & Sewer District, Inland Empire Paper, Kaiser Aluminum, the Lands Council, the Sierra Club, Avista, and The Spokane Tribe. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency participated as an observer.

It was efforts to clean up the Spokane River that led to a statewide ban on phosphorus in dishwasher detergent, adopted by the Legislature early this year.

High levels of phosphorus can cause an influx of algae, which depletes oxygen from the water, making survival more difficult for fish.

The new agreement in principle will now be used to draw up engineering plans and budgets.

Each year, local dischargers will report their progress to Ecology. After 10 years, a review will determine if revisions are needed.

Wastewater treated at the county's new plant would be among the cleanest in the country, county officials say.

The state Department of Ecology estimates the natural level of phosphorus in the river is 10 micrograms for each liter of water.