Laserfiche WebLink
136th Council Meetings <br />July 11-13,2001 <br />Missoula, Montana <br />The Western States Water Council's 136th meetings were held in Missoula, Montana on July <br />11 -13th. Mayor Mike Kadas welcomed members and friends at the full Council meeting on Friday. <br />He described the early history of the area, noting Missoula was a passage way for tribes to the Plains <br />to hunt buffalo, and the Clark Fork River canyon was a good place for an ambush. The name <br />Missoula loosely translated means "damn scary place!" Later, European settlers called it Hellgate. <br />Its water resources and fisheries have been impacted by logging, mining, smelting and irrigation. <br />Growth has affected water quality as municipal wastewater and thousands of septic systems add <br />nutrients to the river. <br />A panel representing different interest groups talked about "Collaborative Approaches to Water <br />Management Issues in the Clark Fork of the Columbia River Basin," with Gerald Mueller as the <br />moderator. The panel included: Stan Bradshaw, Montana Trout Unlimited; Bob Anderson, Avista <br />Corp.; Brian Sugden, Plum Creek Timber Company; and Ruth Watkins, Tri-State Water Quality <br />Council. They discussed tensions between off - stream and instream water uses and rights, <br />particularly in recent years due to drought. Solutions to many problems have been found through <br />collaborative efforts which involve stakeholders in local watershed based groups like the Tri -State <br />Water Quality Council, Upper Clark Fork Committee, and Blackfoot Challenge. <br />Many members also enjoyed a Wednesday field and float trip up and down the Blackfoot River <br />Valley, with a number of presentations on collaborative efforts to protect streamflows during drought <br />for fisheries -- including Westslope cutthroat, brook and bull trout -- by a local landowner, Trout <br />Unlimited, the Montana Fish and Game Department and others. Managed as a wild trout fishery <br />since the mid- 1970s, dozens of upland, river and riparian restoration projects have been completed <br />to address impacts from past logging, mining and grazing practices. <br />The Council's working committees met on Thursday. The Water Quality Committee meeting <br />took up the morning, with an extended discussion of EPA's water - related efforts, led by Charles <br />Sutfin, Director, Assessment and Watershed Protection Division. He addressed non -point source <br />pollution problems, Total Maximum Daily Loads, water quality monitoring and the Consolidated <br />Assessment and Listing Methodology (CALM) Program under Clean Water Act Section 305(b), <br />which requires states to submit biennial water quality reports, and Section 303(d), requiring states <br />to list waterbodies that are not attaining state water quality standards. He also left open the <br />possibility states may have to revisit their water quality standards where it is evident they can not <br />be attained. He also suggested states should have the flexibility to adjust their lists of impaired <br />waters with increased monitoring and focus their resources on priority waters actually impaired and <br />in need of TMDLs. <br />Other issues discussed included regulation of the application of herbicides and pesticides to <br />canals and other waterbodies for the control of algae, mosquitos and other nuisances in light of the <br />0 <br />