Pend Oreille River and Tributaries Watershed Advisory Group (WAG)

Watershed advisory groups (WAGs) are groups of interested citizens that provide local public input and guidance to DEQ during the development of water quality improvement plans or "Total Maximum Daily Loads" (TMDLs) for water bodies that fail to meet water quality standards. TMDLs are designed to reduce the levels of pollutants, such as bacteria and sediment, in impaired water bodies.

Content on this page is provided for informational purposes while the Pend Oreille River and Tributaries Watershed Advisory Group (WAG) and DEQ work to develop a water quality improvement plan or "Total Maximum Daily Loads" (TMDLs) for water bodies in the watershed found to be not fully supporting beneficial uses.

Note:All of these documents are considered draft and are subject to change. The goal of providing these documents at WAG meetings and on this web page is to ensure citizens have the opportunity to provide input as the documents are developed.

April 2011 Update: DEQ's technical analysis and regulatory review of the Idaho portion of Pend Oreille Temperature TMDL has been on hold since February 2008. Since then, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has modified its modeling process and provided DEQ a U.S. Geological Survey peer-reviewed report of its findings. Although the Corps' modeling outputs are not directly comparable to those selected by DEQ, they seem similar. Rather than continuing debate over modeling processes, DEQ will perform load duration analyses on both data sets as resources become available. DEQ intends to reconvene the WAG to review preliminary load duration analysis findings and obtain comment and will provide the findings to EPA for TMDL development.

Next Scheduled Meeting Date

To Be Determined

Background

Pend Oreille Tributaries

Pend Oreille River Temperature Model

Idaho DEQ Staff Report on the October 2007 Pend Oreille River Model Report
Pend Oreille River Final Modeling Report October 2007 (Lake Pend Oreille to Albeni Falls Dam)
Pend Oreille River Final Modeling Report March 2007 (Lake Pend Oreille to Albeni Falls Dam)
Final Pend Oreille River Model Calibration Report (Lake Pend Oreille to Albeni Falls Dam)

Note: The following animations were created using Tecplot software. To view them:

Download the zip file and install the utility "Framer" (Framer.exe)
Open the animation file and choose Framer as the program to open it with.

Visit Tecplot for more information.

Revised Temperature Animations (October 2007)
- Animation No. 1
- Animation No. 2
Vertical Profile and Longitudinal Temperature Animations (January 2007)
Idaho Modeling Scenario Animations (March 2007)

Pend Oreille River Total Dissolved Gas

Draft Pend Oreille River and Lake Total Dissolved Gas TMDL (June 2008)

Pend Oreille River Phosphorus

April 2011 Update: The pollutant total phosphorus was proposed to be added to the Pend Oreille River assessment units as a cause of impairment in the 2008 Integrated Report (IR). However, monitoring conducted in 2009 did not support the addition of total phosphorus as a cause of impairment in these assessment units. Therefore, the draft 2010 Integrated Report (IR) proposes to remove total phosphorus as a cause of impairment in the Pend Oreille River assessment units. DEQ is currently evaluating comments received on the draft 2010 IR and expects to submit the document to EPA for approval later this year.

2009 Monitoring Results and QA/QC

WAG Documents

Pend Oreille Tributary Working Group

Final TMDLs

Pend Oreille River Watershed Advisory Group

Responses to Comments to the Working Draft:

3/27/08: Army Corps of Engineers Response to WDOE Comments
3/27/08: Army Corps of Engineers Response to DEQ Comments
2/25/08: Washington Responses to Stakeholder Draft TMDL Comments
2/25/08: Idaho Responses to Stakeholder Draft TMDL Comments

Comments on the Working Draft:

2/6/09: Kalispel Tribe of Indians
4/15/08: Seattle City Comments
4/15/08: Seattle City Comments (Matrix)
3/28/08: Army Corps of Engineers Comments
12/13/07: Washington Department of Ecology Comments
12/13/07: Heller Ehrman Comments
11/21/07: Army Corps of Engineers Comments
10/19/07: Pend Oreille County Public Utility District Comments
10/17/07: Ponderay Newsprint Comments
9/13/07: City of Sandpoint Comments
9/12/07: Southside Water and Sewer Comments
6/20/07: Army Corps of Engineers Modeling Interpretation Comments
6/01/07: Army Corps of Engineers Modeling Results Comments

Other Documents:

2/25/08: An Approach to Using Load Duration Curves in the Development of TMDLs (EPA Website)

Previous Meeting Information

Pend Oreille River Phosphorus Working Group Meetings

Agendas: Meeting Information
December 10, 2008: Agenda; Sign-in Sheet; Pend Oreille River Phosphorus PowerPoint Presentation; Pend Oreille River Preliminary Nutrient Load Analysis PowerPoint Presentation

Pend Oreille Tributary Working Group Meetings

Date: Materials
October 16, 2007: Public comments received on the nutrient, temperature, and sediment TDMLs were shared and there was a request for a consensus to proceed with submission of the final TMDL for EPA approval.
September 18, 2007: Topics covered were the release of the draft nutrient, temperature, and sediment TMDLs released to the public and the meeting was opened up to answer questions by the public.
July 19, 2007: Agenda; Pack River Nutrient TMDL; Tributary Work Group Comments on Draft Sediment TMDL Allocations
June 14, 2007: Agenda; Sediment TMDL Allocations
May 23, 2007: Agenda; Idaho Temperature Water Quality Standards; Regional Shade Curve Development (Peter Leinenbach, EPA); Draft Temperature TMDL Model Results
March 20, 2007: Agenda; Pack River Nutrient TMDL Target Selection; Sediment Model Revisions
February 13, 2007: Agenda; Draft Sediment Model Results; Draft Pend Oreille Tributary TMDL Development Schedule
October 26, 2006: Agenda; Pack River Stressor Identification Process; Sediment Model Overview; Tributary Overview and Beneficial Uses

Pend Oreille River TMDL WAG Meetings

Date: Materials
June 17, 2008: Minutes
May 12, 2008: Minutes
April 28, 2008: Agenda | Minutes
February 25, 2008: Agenda | Minutes; Washington Presentation Outline | Washington Response to Stakeholder Comments Presentation; Idaho Compliance Areas Presentation; Load Duration Curves Presentation; Idaho Total Dissolved Gas TMDL Presentation
October 25, 2007: Agenda | Minutes; Pend Oreille River Temperature TMDL Allocation; Seattle District Army Corps of Engineers Comments; Ponderay Newsprint Co. Comments; Washington's TMDL Process, Where do we go from here?; Washington's Development of Tributary, Mainstem, and NPDES Allocations
September 28, 2007: Agenda | Minutes
August 16, 2007: Agenda | Minutes
June 25, 2007: Agenda | Minutes; Pend Oreille River Compliance with Idaho Standards - Lake Pend Oreille to WA/ID Border; Overview of Washington and Kalispel Tribe Temperature Standards
May 10, 2007: Agenda | Minutes; Pend Oreille River Compliance with Washington and Kalispel Tribe Standards - Box Canyon Reach; Pend Oreille River TMDL Schedule; Summary of Idaho Modeling Results; Preliminary Box Canyon Segment Modeling Results; Preliminary Boundary Segment Modeling Results
March 20, 2007: Agenda| Minutes; Overview of Temperature and TDG; Draft Pend Oreille River Temperature Model Results (Lake Pend Oreille to Albeni Falls Dam; Discussion of Model Error; Pend Oreille River Temperature TMDL Strategy and Call for Data
January 25, 2007: Agenda | Minutes; Corps of Engineers Pend Oreille Research Summary; Pend Oreille River - Idaho and Box Canyon Reaches Hydrodynamic Model; Temperature Modeling of the Pend Oreille River, Model Calibration, Boundary Dam Reach; Overview of Next Steps; Boundary Reservoir, Surface Layer Longitudinal Temperature Variation
October 26, 2006: Agenda | Minutes; Idaho Beneficial Uses; Operating Procedures Overview; Temperature Modeling 101
May 25, 2006: Agenda | Minutes
October 20, 2005: Agenda | Minutes

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