Water Quality Standards:

Under the Clean Water Act, all of the waters of the United States have Water Quality Standards (WQS) to protect them from pollution. These are standards that are designed as the amount of pollutant allowed in a water body. The Water Quality Standard guarantees the health, the safety, and usability by people and wildlife. These standards ensure that all of our waters are fishable and swimmable. In some cases this also includes drinkable. These WQS are the bedrock of river and water protection in our society.

On the Spokane River, from state line to Long Lake Dam water quality standards are set by Washington State Department of Ecology. Below Long Lake Dam, the Spokane Tribe sets the standards, and above state line, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality sets the standards. All standards are approved by the United States Environmental Protections Agency to ensure they comply with the purpose, goals, and requirements of the Clean Water Act.

For more on water quality standards, read this blog post or watch this video.

Washington State Polluted Waters List

Yes, the Spokane River is On It

The Clean Water Act requires all states to assess pollution in their waters every two years. This assessment uses the water quality standards to assess whether a waterway is considered “polluted”. Rivers, streams, and lakes found to have critical levels of pollution are listed in what is termed the "303(d) list" of impaired and threatened waters. The listing process has led to the identification and tracking of over 70,000 impaired waters throughout the United States in the spring of 2014.

Several segments of the Spokane River and its tributaries are listed for PCBs, dioxin, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen. The Washington Department of Ecology is working with partners to improve oxygen levels and reduce toxic chemicals throughout the watershed.

For each body of water on the list, the state identifies the pollutant causing the impairment, when known, and assigns a priority for development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) based on the severity of the pollution and the sensitivity of the uses to be made of the waters, among other factors (40 C.F.R. §130.7(b)(4)).

In general, once a water body has been added to a state’s list of impaired waters, it stays there until the state develops a TMDL and the EPA approves it. EPA reporting guidance provides a way to keep track of a state’s water bodies, from those listed as “impaired” to those meeting water quality standards.

This tracking system contains a running account of all of the state’s water bodies and categorizes each based on the attainment status. Once a TMDL is developed, a water body is no longer on the 303(d) list, but it is still tracked until the water is fully restored.

The 303(d) list ranks impairment on a scale of 1 to 5, with category 5 being most severe, indicating that the waterway requires a water improvement project. If a water body is in this category it means that we have data showing that the water quality standards have been violated for one or more pollutants, and there is no TMDL — or pollution control program — in place.

Several segments of the Spokane River are listed as category 5 for PCBs. Other segments are listed as category 5 for dioxin, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Dragoon Creek is listed for Ammonia-N, chlorine, and total phosphorus. Hangman Creek is listed for fecal coliform, phosphorus, temperature, and TSS/turbidity. The Little Spokane River is listed for dissolved oxygen, pH, fecal coliform, temperature, and turbidity.

An Innovative Lawsuit to Clean Up Hangman Creek

In 2018, Spokane Riverkeeper settled a federal lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) approval of Washington Department of Ecology’s plan to clean up pollution in Hangman Creek. 

The innovative settlement will identify and prioritize specific actions to reduce polluted runoff into this tributary of the Spokane River. It will fix pollution problems that have plagued the creek for years.  The settlement includes updating the assessment of shoreline vegetation, documenting points of pollution entering the stream (including tillage and livestock practices that are sources of pollution), tracking pollution correction measures and documenting the effectiveness of those correction measures.  In order to be effective, a watershed cleanup plan needs a smart balance of voluntary, incentivized programs backed up by strong regulatory side-boards.  This settlement will hold WDOE accountable for making progress by documenting its use of regulatory tools to enforce clean water laws if voluntary, technical and financial assistance in correcting problems fail. Both approaches will be used by the Washington Department of Ecology to protect the public’s health and protect clean water.

“This agreement will certainly add momentum in cleaning up pollution problems in Hangman Creek,” says Spokane Riverkeeper, Jerry White, Jr.  “The Clean Water Act and Washington State law requires the recovery of clean water and habitats that support native redband trout.  We believe this settlement will move the needle in the direction of long term recovery”.

Hangman Creek has high levels of sediment and fecal coliform bacteria and high water temperatures caused by poor agricultural practices and land uses.  Hangman Creek remains one of the most polluted creeks in Washington State.  This pollution causes several problems.  First, it continues to discharge contaminants to the main-stem of the Spokane River, and second, it prevents the recovery of Spokane’s iconic redband trout in areas it once thrived.  Unfortunately, the stream and shoreline habitats that once supported these fish are now so degraded they do not live in the main sections of Hangman Creek.  In the long term, this agreement will help in providing livable habitat for the salmon that will one day return to the watershed.  

The EPA approved a 10 year clean-up plan (called a “Total Maximum Daily Load”) in June, 2009, and the Washington Department of Ecology is charged with implementing that plan.  However, problems persist in Hangman Creek and progress has been slow since 2009.  

Spokane Riverkeeper scientist, Jule Schultz, said, “We fully expect the implementation of this agreement will become a partnership effort in the basin.  We know other organizations, and farm producers have been working hard to improve Hangman Creek for years, and we hope that Ecology’s plan will be an added framework helping get the community to clean water in the coming decade”.

Spokane Riverkeeper was represented by attorneys Jake Brooks and Bryan Telegin of the law firm Bricklin & Newman, LLP.

Find Original Challenge here, Appendix document here

Find the Settlement Agreement here