OLYMPIA – The state is upgrading water-quality standards concerning pollution, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels in a bid to make dozens of watersheds healthier for fish, wildlife and people, the Department of Ecology announced Wednesday.
The new standards, which take effect later this month, aim to maintain the health of lakes, rivers and marine waters – including some Snohomish County waterways.
They require colder water discharges and in some cases more dissolved oxygen to ensure healthy summertime spawning and rearing habitat for the region’s salmon runs, many of which have been listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
“These more protective water-quality standards have been a long time coming, so we’re going to implement them right away to benefit Washington’s endangered salmon and trout,” Ecology Director Jay Manning said in a news release. “Colder, oxygen-rich water, when combined with healthier river flows we are working to achieve, is good news for fish and good news for polluted receiving waters, such as our troubled Puget Sound.”
Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, agreed.
“Improving water quality is one of the best things we can do for people, salmon and the health of Puget Sound,” said Frank, a co-chairman of the Puget Sound Partnership, Gov. Chris Gregoire’s task force on how to restore Puget Sound by 2020. He shares the leadership post with Manning and Bill Ruckelshaus, the nation’s first Environmental Protection Agency director and head of the Salmon Restoration Funding Board.
“These stronger water-quality standards provide a huge increase in protection for salmon. Restoring and protecting habitat is the single most important action we can take to save our wild salmon,” Frank said.
The changes are tailored to specific rivers, including major rivers that drain into Puget Sound, such as the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Green, Puyallup and Nisqually.
In Eastern Washington, affected waterways include the Snake, Yakima, Wenatchee, Methow, Okanogan, Naches and Walla Walla rivers.
Ecology will begin applying the standards Dec. 21 to new wastewater-discharge permits and water-quality improvement plans.
The new standards will be incorporated into existing permits and plans over time.
Ecology will apply the new standards under state authority while awaiting formal approval from the EPA. The state agency was submitting the revised rules to the EPA on Wednesday.
The revisions are to state standards adopted in 2003, they and satisfy requirements of the federal Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
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