RIVER JOURNAL
News & updates from the Spokane Riverkeeper
Water conservation is more important than ever to protect the health of the Spokane River and ensure it remains a vibrant hub for recreation. On July 24, 2024, City Council declared a drought emergency, causing the Level 2 restrictions to come into action. We share more about the River-Aquifer connection and why water conservation is so important for a healthy river.
How does water temperature respond to the low flows and hot days? Read on to find out.
Spokane Riverkeeper, alongside several other environmental stakeholders, have been working hard to clean up the PCB contamination in the Spokane River and Little Spokane River. We submitted a comment letter to the EPA asking them to address significant concerns we have with the draft plan, particularly to ensure that the plan adequately addresses the human health concerns with PCBs.
We joined up Expo 50 Tribal Pillar leaders, Jeff Ferguson and Margo Hill Ferguson and other environmental and community leaders for the Indigenous and Environmental Film Festival at the Garland Theater. Find the films at more about the host organization.
2024 was the ninth canoe journey to Kettle Falls to call home the salmon. This year, Legal Intern, Maddy Chabot paddled with the canoes for 8 days. Read more about the journey and the impact it has.
On June 28, 2024, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce overturning the long-standing Chevron doctrine and changing the landscape of federal regulatory enforcement.
On April 16, 2024, Washington Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency. In Spokane, where the flowing river defines the City landscape, the impact of drought can be particularly significant. But what exactly does a drought declaration from the Washington Department of Ecology mean, and how does it affect our River?
Wow!!! Thank you all for showing up to our 2024 Earth Day River Cleanup on Saturday. It was a record breaking event for us, with almost 400 volunteers and 8,620 pounds of trash collected!
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken significant steps to address the issue of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution. This month, the EPA announced two major rule changes aimed at increasing accountability for PFAS contamination. These changes represent a crucial milestone in safeguarding our drinking water and environment from the harmful effects of PFAS chemicals, but there is still significant action needed to protect our waterways and environment from these harmful chemicals.
Thank you to Riverkeeper volunteer James Pelland for his tireless work on our real time temperature logger program. For summary of what went wrong, and right, check out his slides below. This project provides instantaneous water temperature data to anglers, floater, policy makers, and the general public, as well as providing valuable information regarding the effects of climate change on our local waters.
In a recent decision, the Pollution Control Hearings Board made several key findings regarding regulation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in the Spokane River. This ruling comes after five of the major dischargers (City of Spokane, Liberty Lake Sewer & Water District, Kaiser Aluminum, Inland Empire Paper Company, and Spokane County) challenged the effluent limits included in their NPDES permits issued in 2022.
Our Community Science Project continues to produce high quality data with a strong group of volunteers. Although we haven't seen the sediment pollution in the Spokane River this year, that's because of our warm winter, not our lack of science. In fact we've had stronger participation in the study than any year in the past, with data collected almost every day! You've taken about 240 samples, which is 60 out of the 68 days our study has been running. Check out the data below.
The recent oil spill in the Spokane River, attributed to the Inland Empire Paper Co., has sparked great concern with the Spokane Riverkeeper. This incident, which occurred on Dec. 26, has not only raised questions about the effectiveness of spill response measures but also highlights the need for transparency and accountability in environmental protection efforts. (Inland Empire Paper is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.)
Environmental legislation at its heart leans on the idea that polluters should be held accountable for any pollution they release into the environment. The Clean Water Act and similar state statutes are no different, utilizing civil penalties (fines) to punish bad actors and discourage improper discharging to the state’s waters. Read more about Spokane Riverkeeper’s role in holding polluters and regulators accountable.
2023 was a big year for the Spokane Riverkeeper. Click through our gallery to find out why!
Spokane Riverkeeper has been monitoring the response to an oil slick that was first reported to us on December 26, 2023, near the Argonne bridge. We now know this has been reported as a mineral lubricant oil from a cooling equipment failure. Here are the facts as we know so far and what we are doing about it.
To the Council on Environmnetal Quality, The Spokane Riverkeeper is an advocacy organization whose mission is to protect and restore the Spokane River Watershed to ecological health and protect water quality for public use. As such our organization cares deeply about the recovery of salmon runs in the Columbia Basin. Please remember that the Columbia Basin is in crisis. Less than 2% of the 16 million salmon that once migrated in the Columbia River Watershed are now surviving. Nearly 300,000 Chinook salmon migrated into the Spokane River. No native salmon are left in the Spokane and such low numbers elsewhere in the Basin have had devastating effects on the ecosystems and the cultures and traditions of the Northwest in the salmon country. Specifically, in the upper Columbia Basin and the Spokane River Basin where Grand Coulee Dam completely extirpated runs of salmon, indigenous cultures have lost the vital runs of salmon that are key to ways of life including physical, emotional, and psychological health. All communities existing in the Columbia Basin are left without the economic, psychic, and spiritual benefits of salmon and anadromous fish. Additionally, ecosystems exist in a kind of biological poverty without the salmon and the ocean nutrients that they deliver from the ocean to the rivers. The Spokane River has only 300 redband trout per mile as they live in a river where salmon no longer give their bodies and nutrients up to the riverbed after spawning. This natural cycle is now broken
Spokane Riverkeeper is closely monitoring a new lawsuit challenging the Washington Water Quality Standards for PCBs. This lawsuit was brought against the US EPA by various industry groups, including Greater Spokane, Inc. (GSI).
As part of protecting the Spokane River, we provide public comments on regulations and permits proposed by government agencies. We recently submitted comments on a municipal stormwater permit urging Washington Department of Ecology to enact tougher stormwater protections and comments on Ecology’s water clean up plan priorities regulation advocating for a temperature clean up plan for the Spokane River.
The Spokane River is a living system that is woven into our regional identity. After enduring many abuses, the river is now on the long road to recovery. With the advent of the Clean Water Act in 1972, we made strides cleaning up our river. These efforts culminated by installing state of the art treatment inside Spokane River Wastewater Treatment Plants under a legally binding, cleanup plan. Thankfully, the Spokane River is once again swimmable.
