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Pollution after the storm

Post Falls City Staff | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 7 months AGO
by Post Falls City Staff
| October 11, 2013 9:00 PM

New environmental rules for the Spokane River focus on reducing stormwater pollution to protect fish, animals and human health.

These new rules focus "polychlorinated biphenyls," or PCBs: a group of man-made chemicals that can cause cancer. PCBs are slow to break down and go away. Even though the production of PCBs was banned in America more than 40 years ago, a small quantity of them still circulates in the environment.

They can be found in tiny amounts nearly everywhere, but when they get into an aquatic environment, they become more concentrated, in a process called "bio-magnification." As PCB-contaminated organisms are eaten by larger animals, the concentration increases. It is greatest in animals at the top of the food chain.

For example, an aquatic insect living in the gravel bed of the river will have some PCB stuck to it and inside it. A fish that eats many insects accumulates a large quantity of PCBs, because PCBs are mostly stored in fat tissue. When a bear or human eats several fish that have eaten many insects, the concentration of PCBs stored in their fat tissue gets even higher.

Some countries have not yet banned PCB production. This allows new releases of the chemical into the environment, where it enters the hydrologic cycle, and can travel thousands of miles in rivers, ocean currents, and the atmosphere. Rains or snow, runoff from our lawns, roofs and parking lots all enter the streets and gutters, and flow eventually to the river via the storm sewer system. Even though freshly-fallen rain and snow might contain tiny quantities of PCBs and other contaminants, surface water runoff accumulates more contaminants as it travels across soils, parking lots and roadways.

PCBs have been found in transformers, motor oil, paint, caulk, dyes and newsprint. Oil spots in parking lots and roads get washed into the streets to combine with trash and debris as the runoff travels downhill to the nearest storm drain, and into the river.

To protect fish, animals and human health, everyone can help reduce PCB pollution in the Spokane River by keeping their cars well-maintained, and properly disposing of trash and debris.

Draining automotive fluids into the street, gutter, or storm drain is a bad idea. Doing so could contaminate the Spokane River in Idaho and Washington, and result in expensive cleanup efforts and legal consequences.

For more info about the Surface Water Management Program, visit www.postfallsidaho.org/ or 777-9857.

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ARTICLES BY POST FALLS CITY STAFF

October 11, 2013 9 p.m.

Pollution after the storm

New river rules aim at protect fish, human health

New environmental rules for the Spokane River focus on reducing stormwater pollution to protect fish, animals and human health.