North Coast water board sets action plan for Klamath River pollution
Times-Standard
03/25/2010
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board has released new guidelines and an action plan for limiting different kinds of water pollution in the Klamath River.
The plan is designed to restore and maintain water quality in the Klamath River Watershed in California and Oregon.
The action plan includes coordination with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to meet water quality standards in both states, and a proposed Management Agency Agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Tulelake Irrigation District, to address water quality in the Lost River (a Klamath tributary) in California.
Limits on various kinds of pollution are set through Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL), which place ceilings on certain contaminants that find their way into the Klamath from different sources.
The TMDLs specifically address elevated stream temperatures, low dissolved oxygen levels, nutrient enrichment and nuisance blue-green algae blooms in the Klamath River in California, water quality conditions which impair the cold freshwater salmon fishery, American Indian cultural uses and recreation.
The plan also addresses water quality impacts of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project, Thermal Refugia Protection Policy, and conditional waivers addressing nonpoint sources of pollution -- such as roads, agriculture and activities on U.S. Forest Service lands.
