Page 10 The Skanner April 13, 2016
By Dawn Merritt
Izaak Walton League of America
GAITHERSBURG, MD – Every Amer-
ican has the right to know whether the
streams and rivers running through
their backyards and neighborhood
parks are safe for their kids to play
in or dogs to splash through. But a re-
port released today by the Izaak Wal-
ton League of America (IWLA) shows
that state water quality monitoring in
streams across the country is haphaz-
ard and limited, leaving Americans in
the dark about the health of local wa-
ters – and potentially leaving pollution
undetected.
The Izaak Walton League conducted
an extensive investigation into stream
monitoring practices and water pollu-
tion problems in all 50 states and un-
covered startling results.
• Our analysis shows that states are ef-
fectively monitoring water quality in
only 2% of rivers and streams nation-
wide.
• Based on state reports to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
(U.S. EPA), more than half (55%) of
the streams and rivers tested were
not safe for designated uses such as
swimming, fishing, and as sources of
drinking water.
• Pollutants in these waters include a
laundry list of bacteria, carcinogens,
and nutrients.
• Testing sites are often randomly lo-
cated and limited in number, and
most information about water quali-
ty in streams is 5 to 10 years old.
• More than half of all states (26) re-
ceived D or F grades for the overall
effectiveness of the state’s stream
monitoring efforts.
For the full report, including state-
by-state grading, visit www.iwla.org/
righttoknow.
Oregon receives a C overall for how
effectively the state monitors water
quality in streams and rivers and en-
gages with volunteers. Oregon mis-
leads the public on the percentage of
streams and rivers the state tests for
pollution. The state claims to test 40%
of streams and rivers while IWLA’s cal-
culation is 1%, earning the state a C in
this category. Moreover, Oregon does
not test enough local river and stream
sites to make reliable claims about the
safety of these waterways statewide.
The state also uses data that is up to
10 years old when reporting on water
quality. The most common pollutants
found in Oregon’s waters include toxic
metals, bacteria, acids, nutrients, and
sediment. Although the state’s overall
grade is average, Oregon is a national
leader in partnering with volunteer
stream monitors, earning a B in this
category.
“There is an alarming lack of time-
ly information about water quality
in this country, including in Oregon,”
“
PHOTO BY FINETOOTH/CC BY-SA 3.0
News
National Report Shows Only 2 Percent of Streams and Rivers Actually Tested for
Water Quality – and Half Don’t Meet State Water Quality Standards
In this July 16, 2010 photo is Reservoir 1 and Dam 1 on the Bull Run River. As the main source of Portland’s
drinking water, the Bull Run River watershed is largely restricted to uses related to water collection,
storage, and treatment, and to forest management
of water quality monitoring, including
standards used to assess water quali-
ty; where, when, and which waters are
tested; the types of tests performed;
and how states provide information to
the public. The Izaak Walton League
found that many states have weak wa-
ter quality standards that can inflate
Every morning, you can read about that day’s
air quality in the local paper or on your smart
phone. Yet information about the health of lo-
cal streams is 5 to 10 years old.
said IWLA Executive Board Chair Jodi
Arndt Labs. “Every morning, you can
read about that day’s air quality in the
local paper or on your smart phone.
Yet information about the health of lo-
cal streams is 5 to 10 years old. That’s a
problem!”
The Clean Water Act of 1972 requires
states to monitor the safety of all water-
ways, report water quality information
publicly every two years, and address
pollution problems. However, states
vary widely in virtually every aspect
the number of waters rated clean and
healthy – and most states don’t monitor
water quality often enough to make ac-
curate statewide safety claims.
The Izaak Walton League has a solu-
tion to this problem: empowering citi-
zens to collect scientifically valid water
quality data (and ensuring states use
this data more effectively).
The League has been training and
supporting citizen volunteers for de-
cades through our groundbreaking
Save Our Streams (SOS) program. Vari-
ations of the League’s SOS program
have been adopted by states and vol-
unteer groups across the country. It is
vital to the health of our nation’s water-
ways — and Americans who depend on
those waterways — to expand stream
monitoring across the country.
However, rather than embrace vol-
unteer help, many states hold citizen
volunteers at arm’s length. Some states
don’t use the water quality data citizens
provide. Other states require volun-
teers to complete unnecessarily com-
plex certifications or send water sam-
ples to labs for expensive tests before
the state will consider their data. This
erects barriers to citizen engagement
and reduces the amount of timely wa-
ter quality information available to the
public. Twenty-nine states received D
or F grades for volunteer engagement
because they do not effectively part-
ner with volunteer monitors or use the
data volunteers collect.
The Izaak Walton League of America
was founded in 1922 to conserve Amer-
ica’s natural resources – including soil,
air, woods, waters, and wildlife – for
future generations. The League has
been at the forefront of every major
clean water battle in the United States,
from a push for federal water pollu-
tion control in the 1930s to breaking
the political ground necessary for pas-
sage of the landmark 1972 Clean Water
Act to current efforts to restore Clean
Water Act protections for streams and
wetlands. Citizens across the country
use the League’s pioneering Save Our
Streams program to monitor local wa-
terways, plan restoration projects, and
report water quality problems. Today,
League priorities include engaging
youth in the outdoors; restoring and
conserving habitat for fish and wild-
life; and ensuring America’s streams,
rivers, and other waters are clean and
safe. With 43,000 members and 240 lo-
cal chapters nationwide, the League is
a powerful voice for community-based
conservation. For more information
visit www.iwla.org, call 301-548-0150,
or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Ins-
tagram, and YouTube.