Continued population growth, together with oil and
gas development, represent intensifying threats to water quality in the
state, according to a new report from Environment Colorado.
Using
data from the EPA and the Colorado Water Quality Control Division
(WQCD) the report concludes that water quality in Colorado has declined
in recent years.
The percentage of Colorado streams deemed
fishable or swimmable declined by seven percent, while the number of
stream segments classified as impaired rose 53 percent between 1998 and
2006.
But at least part of that reported decline is due to better data collection and monitoring, said WQCD director Steve Gunderson.
“The number one reason we see more impairments is we have more data.
And standards are tighter,” Gunderson said. The most common pollutant
statewide is selenium, affecting 25 percent of all impaired stream
reaches. Second on the list is zinc, a common pollutant from abandoned
mines that affects Summit County’s watersheds.
With cleanups in
various stages of planning and execution, and stringent controls on
discharges, water quality in Summit County is holding its own, said
Lane Wyatt, of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments.
A
fairly complete historical record of data shows that water quality in
Dillon Reservoir remains outstanding, Wyatt said. Similarly, monitoring
from some other locations shows improved water quality, including
Straight Creek (flowing down from the Eisenhower Tunnel to Dillon).
Intensive work by the Colorado Department of Transportation has paid
off in that drainage by measurably reducing sediment loading, according
to Wyatt.
Several projects recently completed under the
leadership of the county’s open space department are also promising
improved waters, including a Horseshoe Basin mine cleanup high in the
Peru Creek drainage and a Blue River restoration project at Fourmile
Bridge, between Frisco and Breckenridge.
A water treatment plant in French Gulch at the abandoned Wellington-Oro mine is under construction.
That facility will significantly reduce zinc loading downstream in the Blue River.
Although
there is plenty of ongoing monitoring of Summit County streams, making
a basin-wide assessment is still a challenge, Wyatt said.
The
U.S. Geological Survey is working on a broad-scale look at the Blue
River watershed that should help, but the report is about a year
overdue, according to Wyatt.
Statewide assessment
Making a statewide assessment of water quality is not easy, Gunderson said.
The number of streams and rivers being monitored continues to grow, and
with new information coming in, the picture keeps changing.
But in some parts of the state, water quality has clearly improved since passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970s, he said.
Concluding that water quality has declined statewide in the past six years is an over-simplification, Gunderson said.
But
he acknowledged that pressures from population growth, development, oil
and gas drilling, as well as climate change, represent very real
threats.
The issue of non-point source pollution (mainly agricultural and urban runoff) continues to vex water quality experts.
The
lack of statewide data to make a comprehensive assessment of water
quality is addressed directly by the Environment Colorado report.
“There just aren’t enough cops on the beat,” said Stpehanie Thomas, the primary author.
Thomas
said, that, based on the data reported by the state and the EPA, she
stands by the conclusion that Colorado’s water is in worse shape than
it was half a decade ago.
“Water quality declined and we expect it to continue,” Thomas said.
With
only a small staff of field inspectors, the WQCD is swamped when it
comes to enforcing the myriad non-point sources of pollution, she said.
Thomas said that less than one percent of sites under stormwater runoff permits are inspected annually.
“That’s not enough to have a deterrent effect,” she said.
Gunderson
acknowledged the staffing challenges and said the WQCD has made some
progress in the past few years, winning funding from the Colorado
Legislature to add personnel.
He said the WQCD also partners with contractors to meet its goal of inspecting 10 percent of permitted sites.
