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Pollution limits under review by DEQ
by SARA HOTTMAN,
Herald and News 10/19/11
Point sources in the
total maximum daily load order are at a standstill until
the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality decides
how to resolve appeals to the order it issued last year.
Total maximum daily
loads, or TMDLs, help the state regulate water
pollution.
For the city of
Klamath Falls and South Suburban Sanitary District,
called point sources because they discharge treated
wastewater into water bodies, the Klamath and Lost
rivers’ TMDL tells them the amount of pollutants allowed
in effluent.
Point sources must
get state permits to discharge treated wastewater into
water bodies, but they can’t get new permits until they
meet TMDL requirements.
Gene Foster, manager
of DEQ’s watershed management section, said the agency
has met with all the petitioners once, but wants to meet
a second time before they decide which parts of the
order they’re willing to revise.
The Environmental
Protection Agency, which gives final approval to the
order, will delay its review until the petition process
is finished, officials said.
The TMDL order would
require point sources reduce phosphorous content by 91
percent, which would cost city ratepayers at least $6
million in treatment machinery and South Suburban
ratepayers between $60 and $90 million, officials said.
Petitioners say
Upper Klamath Lake is surrounded
by volcanic soil
that is naturally high in phosphorous. Water from the
lake is released into Klamath River, thereby increasing
the phosphorous load there.
Non-point sources —
Klamath County, Columbia Forest Products, Klamath Water
Users Association, PacifiCorp — also filed petitions
asking the state to revise its TMDL order.
According to the
TMDL, non-point sources indirectly contribute to water
pollution through water runoff from commercial
operations or irrigation.
Despite their
petitions for reconsideration, they still have a June
2012 deadline to write up a water quality improvement
plan to curb their contributions to water pollution.
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Page Updated: Thursday October 20, 2011 03:04 AM Pacific
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