Riverkeeper Rick Eichstaedt talks about his job and a spectrum of river issues with the Inlander’s Nicholas Deshais.
Inlander staff writer Nicholas Deshais recently conducted a wide-ranging interview with Riverkeeper Rick Eichstaedt that appears in the December 10th edition. 
For starters, Rick explains the purpose of the Riverkeeper’s recent filing with the City of Spokane of a notice of violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The alleged violation involves the continued discharge of a toxic material, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to the Spokane River via the city’s antiquated stormwater system. Although the notice is a required precedent to filing a citizens suit under the CWA, Rick explains, it doesn’t mean that a lawsuit will be filed. His hope, he tells Deshais, is that the filing will inspire a new sense of urgency and commitment on the city’s part to negotiate a settlement prior to the filing a lawsuit.
In other parts of the interview, Deshais asks about Rick’s role in protecting the Spokane River, what an “ideal” Spokane River should look like, and even about the likelihood that salmon might one day return to the river.
