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DEQ's Lewiston Region
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Map and Directions to DEQ's Lewiston Regional Office
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DEQ Lewiston
Regional
Office
1118 "F" Street
Lewiston, ID 83501
ph: (208) 799-4370
fx: (208) 799-3451
toll free: (877) 541-3304
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Overview of Water Quality in the Lewiston Region: Accomplishments and Current Projects
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DEQ's Lewiston
Region in north Idaho includes Clearwater, Idaho, Latah, Lewis,
and Nez Perce Counties. The region is home to about 8.1% of the
state's population, as well as both the University of Idaho and
Lewis-Clark State College. The region covers 16.5% of the
state's geographical area and contains more designated wilderness
than any other DEQ region. Lewiston, the largest city in the
region, boasts Idaho's only seaport (on the Clearwater River) and
has the lowest elevation of any town in Idaho (738 feet). The Lewiston
Region shares its borders with Oregon, Washington, Montana, and
the Nez Perce Tribe, prompting coordination of shared resources.
The Lewiston
Region is known for the timbered watersheds of the Clearwater, Selway,
Palouse, and Lochsa Rivers; the Snake River Canyon and Salmon River
Basins; and the rolling hills of the Palouse and Camas Prairies.
Perhaps the most notable natural feature of the Lewiston Region
is the varied topography: both mountains and canyons dominate the
landscape. The most notable of these canyons is Hells Canyon, the
deepest gorge in North America. The best known is likely the
Salmon River Canyon,which attracts whitewater rafters from around
the world.
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Salmon
River Canyon |
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| Background |
| Natural resources in the Lewiston Region
are diverse, beautiful, and economically important. Recreation,
agriculture, timber, and manufacturing are vital to the economic base
of the region, and all of these, to some extent, rely on the area's
water resources: anglers, rafters, and other boaters flock to streams,
rivers, and reservoirs, while wheat, logs, paper, and pulp are shipped
to the sea down the Snake River. Salmon recovery and steelhead protection
are major resource concerns in the region and greatly influence resource
management. |
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| Accomplishments and Current Projects |
Lewiston
Regional Office staff work with numerous local, state, federal,
and tribal governments and other public and private organizations
to improve water quality in the region. Examples of a few
recent accomplishments are outlined below. |
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Total
Maximum Daily Loads |
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Lewiston Regional Office has worked very closely with Division II
of Idaho's Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Clearwater
and Nez Perce National Forests, cities and counties, and the Idaho
Departments of Lands, Transportation, and Fish and Game to complete
nine water quality improvement plans, called "total
maximum daily loads (TMDLs)," for all or part of
seven "subbasins"
in the region. The goal of a TMDL is to set limits on pollutant
levels in water bodies that don't meet water
quality standards so that they will meet standards in
the future. The EPA has approved
all nine completed TMDLs; TMDLs are underway for the remaining water
bodies/subbasins that do not meet standards.
The Nez Perce Tribal Reservation
encompasses portions of all the counties located within the Lewiston
Region except for Latah County. Four TMDLs (Winchester Lake,
Cottonwood Creek, Jim Ford Creek, and the South Fork Clearwater
River) were prepared jointly by DEQ, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), since the watersheds
include portions of the Nez Perce Reservation as well as state,
private, and federal lands. These TMDLs are examples of the
many cooperative efforts underway in the region. |
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Surface
Water Quality Improvement Projects |
Once
a TMDL is complete, and sometimes even before, programs are implemented
to improve water quality, monitor results, and achieve TMDL goals.
The implementation projects come in many forms and are often undertaken
by landowners and other involved citizens. Many are funded
through "§319
subgrants," which are administered by DEQ.
Between 2000 and 2004, 13 §319 subgrants were awarded to conservation
districts, cities, state agencies, private corporations, and nonprofit
conservation organizations for projects in the Lewiston Region to
improve water quality. As improving water quality is a slow
process, most of these grants span several years. While all
of these projects have been successful, two in particular have received
accolades for their outstanding achievements.
The Jim
Ford Creek Watershed Enhancement Project is reducing nonpoint
source pollutants, such as nutrients and sediment, in Jim Ford Creek
and is a major component of the Jim
Ford Creek TMDL Implementation Plan. The project has
involved implementing numerous "best
management practices" (BMPs), such as increasing
riparian fencing to keep cattle out of the creek, building livestock
access ramps for heavy-use areas to minimize impacts where cattle
do access the creek, and planting over 15,000 trees and shrubs to
reduce erosion and improve riparian conditions. Each of these
practices reduces the amount of nonpoint source pollutants entering
Jim Ford Creek. This project has been tremendously successful,
due in large part to the collaboration and cooperation among many
diverse entities: the Clearwater Soil and Water Conservation District,
the Nez Perce Tribe, the Idaho Department of Lands, Potlatch Corporation,
and private landowners. |
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| The Palouse-Clearwater Environmental
Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Moscow, has initiated
or completed 34 projects as part of the Paradise Creek Riparian Restoration
Program, which is a major component of the Paradise
Creek TMDL Implementation Plan. All of these projects
were funded through §319 subgrants. Local volunteers from
the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, businesses, schools,
scout troops, churches, and service organizations, as well as private
individuals, have created wetlands; planted thousands of native trees,
shrubs, and grasses; restored natural floodplains and stream channels;
created riparian buffers; and restored stream banks throughout the
Paradise Creek watershed. |
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Ground
Water Improvement Plans |
Three
areas in the Lewiston Region have been designated
as nitrate
priority areas and require ground water quality management plans
be developed to outline strategies to reduce nitrate loading to
ground water from land use activities. The Lewiston Region's
three nitrate priority areas are ranked 5th (Camas Prairie), 15th
(Lapwai Creek), and 23rd (Genesee/Cow Creek). Work has begun
on the Camas Prairie plan. A planning team has been formed
and begun meeting and §319 grant funds
have been awarded to the Lewis County Conservation District to study
no-till direct seed application to determine effectiveness in reducing
nitrate in ground water. Additional research has also been
conducted concerning nitrate in ground water in the Camas Prairie
area (view
report) (DEQ Publication, 2003:
pdf 1.5 mb, 70 pages). |
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Drinking
Water and Wastewater Assistance |
Lewiston
Regional Office staff assist communities in the region in developing
drinking
water protection plans and complying with state and federal
regulations. Drinking water protection is a voluntary program
a community can implement to help prevent water that supplies its
public water system from becoming contaminated. This greatly
benefits the community by minimizing the problems that can occur
from contaminants in the water supply, such as increased health
risks, expanded drinking water monitoring requirements, additional
water treatment requirements, and expensive environmental cleanup
activities. Small communities often do not have the resources
to develop plans on their own, nor the resources to deal with the
additional requirements that contaminated drinking water can bring,
so DEQ assistance in these plans provides a invaluable service.
To date, 13 plans have been written by communities in the Lewiston
Region.
A new
state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility has been constructed
by the City of Moscow to serve the city and the University of Idaho.
The plant was designed to meet the new water quality treatment requirements
included in the TMDL for Paradise Creek. The plant has shown
an impressive ability to meet these stringent standards. |
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| Moscow
Wastewater Treatment Plant |
| DEQ
has awarded wastewater planning grants to the City of Kamiah, Pine
Ridge Sewer District, Valley View Water and Sewer District, the City
of Lapwai,the City of Reubens, and Elk City to help prepare facility
plans that were needed to construct enhanced wastewater collection
and treatment systems. The facility plans for the City of Kamiah,
Pine Ridge Sewer District, and Valley View Water and Sewer District
revealed the most cost effective and environmentally sound alternative
was the development of one collection and treatment system for all
three. Construction of this regionalized wastewater treatment facility
has been completed in Kamiah and is in use.
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