D.O. Ver. 3

The Department of Ecology is out with its third try on a dissolved oxygen cleanup plan for the Spokane River.

A year after the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suddenly changed its mind on how it viewed phosphorous pollution in the Spokane River, the Washington Department of Ecology today released its newest effort at a dissolved oxygen remediation plan.

The plan–frequently called a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL report–is supposed to be the outline for how the agency will work to dramatically reduce phosphorous and other nutrients that lead to low levels of dissolved oxygen in Lake Spokane and other portions of the lower Spokane River west of Spokane. Phosphorous fuels the growth of algae in the river, and particularly Lake Spokane, and when the algae blooms die, the decomposition consumes dissolved oxygen that fish and other aquatic organisms rely upon.

A copy of the report, formally entitled, The Spokane River/Lake Spokane Dissolved Oxygen Water Quality Improvement Plan, can be downloaded here. Ecology’s answers to “frequently asked questions” about the TMDL is available here.

The new public comment period on the plan begins today and runs through October 14th. A public meeting to discuss and take public comment on the new draft is schedued for Thursday, September 24 at Spokane Community College’s Sasquatch Room in Lair Building #6 at the SCC campus, 1810 N. Greene Street.

–CFJ