EPA erred in Spokane River pollution limits

Officials say efforts to reduce pollution in the Spokane River in northern Idaho and Eastern Washington are being delayed because the Environmental Protection Agency erred in calculating limits in permits for Idaho cities that discharge treated sewage into the river.

The agency on Thursday announced the error that allowed Idaho cities to put too much pollution into the river. It said it will meet with representatives of Idaho cities this month to discuss what the error means.

The river, which runs about 111 miles from Lake Coeur d'Alene to the Columbia River in Washington, receives the treated sewage from about 500,000 residents in the region, which can erode water quality.

Part of that pollution includes phosphorus, which is an essential nutrient for plants and animals. But too much can lead to accelerated plant growth, algae blooms, and low dissolved oxygen that kills fish, invertebrates and other animals.

Officials in Washington state said they have been concerned that Idaho cities were being allowed to put too much pollution into the river.

Idaho cities had phosphorus discharge limits of 50 parts per billion, while dischargers in Washington state faced limits of 10 parts per billion.

Lloyd Brewer, environmental program manager for the city of Spokane, said the city was concerned about "the fairness issue between the two states. We're happy to hear that it will be more appropriately dealt with."

The Washington Department of Ecology had been close to issuing final permits to Washington dischargers that would have reduced by 95 percent the amount of phosphorus being put into the river.

But the department's permits were tied to the EPA's determination that the amount of phosphorus entering Washington state from Idaho was negligible, which turned out to be false, according to the EPA's announcement Thursday.

"We were getting ready to send (the permits) out when we got this bombshell," Jani Gilbert, an Ecology spokeswoman, told The Spokesman-Review. "We're very frustrated. We hope we're not forced to go back to the drawing board. ... That's a lot of time and effort and money spent going down the wrong road."

Sid Frederickson, wastewater utility superintendent in Coeur d'Alene, said he was concerned about possibly facing more restrictive pollution limits.

"It doesn't bode well for me," he said. The discharge limits "ain't going to go up."

The Sierra Club welcomed Thursday's announcement.

"We have to get rid of this fiction that pollution that crosses the state border is natural," said Rick Eichstaedt, an attorney with the Center for Justice, a Spokane public interest law firm that represents the Sierra Club.

He noted that the Sierra Club had previously raised concerns about the EPA's plan for protecting water downstream of Idaho.

"This is nothing new," he said. "It's just been ignored."