Issue Definition:

The Chehalis Basin enjoys some of the highest quality waters in the State of Washington. These must be protected.

Areas with high water quality are those which meet or exceed existing Washington State Water Quality Standards. The issue of providing special protection to high quality waters is a basin wide issue. It was raised at several points during the planning process:

• By the Chehalis Basin Partnership (CBP) in their Goals ("Prevent degradation of water quality .") and Objectives: ("Develop strategies to identify and prevent water quality degradation.")
• By citizens at CBP Open Houses
• By the Steering and Technical Committee (STC)

This issue is not a specific requirement of the Watershed Planning Act. It was raised in the planning process because of its importance, cost effectiveness, opportunity for voluntary efforts, and the absence of programs directed specifically at protecting high quality waters.ÿÿ

The Chehalis Basin Partnership has developed an issue paper that provides overall guidance protecting all four types of high quality water resources (water quantity, water quality, instream flow, and habitat). This issue paper provides specific recommendations on applying that general policy to water quality.

Background:

It is much easier and less costly to protect high quality waters than it is to clean up waters that are already polluted. Some areas within the Chehalis Basin that may have high water quality are identified below under "Technical - Available Science." ÿÿ

In most watersheds, there are at least a few and sometimes many areas of high water quality. These areas are generally associated with areas of intact, high quality habitat. In a cost effective strategy, the highest priority should be to identify these areas, understand why they support high quality water, and protect them from deterioration.

To address related habitat issues, including fish habitat, a further goal is to begin restoring "connectivity" between those strongholds to enlarge them and to provide refuges in the event an existing stronghold is severely damaged by a storm or other severe event. Without such "connectivity" the population of an existing isolated stronghold is much less likely to survive. This concept is based on the premise that damaging effects of storm events tend to be confined to relatively small geographic areas, so if such a storm event wipes out a stronghold area, there will be another in adjacent lands that can serve as refuges while the original recovers or is restored.

More intensive land uses tend to increase the amount of pollution from runoff. The percentage of impervious surface (pavement, roofs, etc.) increases as land use becomes more intensive. Intensive land uses not only increase pollution but also have adverse affects on stream flow. With development and removal of vegetation and wetlands, more water travels over the land, carrying pollutants into surface and ground waters. Less water infiltrates into the soil to maintain supplies of groundwater, so less groundwater is available to maintain stream flows in dry months. As flows decline, stream temperatures increase and temperature standards are exceeded; this can lead to fish mortality and sublethal effects. Much of the Chehalis basin has not experienced intensive development; however, other uses that can degrade water quality are present, and therefore not all undeveloped areas can be presumed to have high water quality.

A major obstacle in promoting non-degradation as a priority is overcoming the fairly widespread belief that environmental standards are totally protective, i.e., many believe that there are no, or few, downsides to allowing degradation of high quality waters as they don't degrade below standards or destroy these resources.

Existing Law and Regulations:

The Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit system provides significant protection to water quality from point sources. In Washington, this program is administered by the state Department of Ecology. This program has generally been effective, and as a result most of the remaining threats to water quality come from nonpoint source pollution (runoff).

Clean Water Act Section 404 regulations are intended to ensure that materials placed in waters or other aquatic resources like wetlands will not have a negative impact on the overall water resources within a region. Wetlands are naturally soggy areas that soak up water in the winter and slowly release water in the summer and early fall. Wetlands also are natural pollutant filters that can capture and contain pollution flowing in stormwater and filter out pollutants before the water is released into a water body. Ecology, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administer the Section 404 program.

State Water Quality Standards (WQS) regulations, which are issued pursuant to the Federal Clean Water Act, require an anti-degradation policy as part of state Water Quality Standards. The state is in the process of revising their WQS regulations including the anti-degradation policy. The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis have their own water quality standards.

Nonpoint source pollution is largely a function of land use. Land use is regulated primarily by county and city government.

Technical - Available Science:

This section consists primarily of a discussion of resources for the identification of areas with good water quality.

CBP Level 1 Analysis, (Appendix C - Water Quality) includes a review of water quality data by subbasin. This review was hampered by the fact that complete data for many subbasins was not available. With that caveat, the Level 1 concluded that there were very few subbasins with water quality that could be described as good. These (subject to data uncertainty) are Elk Creek, Cedar Creek, the Satsop system, the Wynoochee River, and the Hoquiam River.

EPA in cooperation with Ecology conducted field sampling in the upper Chehalis (WRIA 23) during 1997 to assess the status of ecological resources in the basin and to examine the association between ecological conditions and natural and human influences. This project used indicator concepts and a statistical design developed by the Environmental Assessment and Monitoring Program to identify and draw samples from twenty-six second order streams. The results of this study are available in Ecological Conditions of the Upper Chehalis Basin Streams , Hayslip and Herger, 2001 (EPA-910-R-01-005). This study concluded that many of the sites examined exhibited good environmental conditions, including indicators representative of water quality and habitat. The project report contains summary data and site-specific data. It is available from EPA Region 10.

Other resources that may provide information on areas of high quality water include the following:

• Ecology Water Quality Data : The Ecology has placed data for some Chehalis basin streams on their website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/fw_riv/wes_olym.html . There may be other Ecology sources as well. Much of this was gathered for the TMDL program. This program focuses on water quality problems, but some of its data could be used to identify areas with good water quality.
• Chehalis Basin Education Consortium Monitoring : Ecology and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped to fund water quality monitoring by students (ages 6 thru 18) throughout the Chehalis Basin. The project is currently underway and involves about 900 students and 30 teachers. Data gathered by the older students is likely to be the most reliable. Site data and water quality/flow information from this project are on the NatureMapping webpage at http://www.fish.washington.edu/naturemapping/.
• Land Trusts : Several environmental land trusts operate in counties that are at least in part in the Chehalis Basin. Some trust holdings may be in the basin, and the trusts may have data on water quality for these lands. Or it may be possible to make assumptions about water quality on these lands based on the land use, land cover, and land management practices.
• Public Lands : There are extensive public lands in the basin. These include local, state, and federal entities. These entities may have special protection and/or monitoring programs for their lands and may be able to provide data on high quality waters. Or it may be possible to make assumptions about water quality on these lands based on the land use, land cover, and land management practices.
• Private Forest Lands : As a broad rule of thumb, forestlands produce higher water quality than other land uses; however, the degree to which this is true depends on the particular forest management practices followed. There are very extensive private forestlands in the Chehalis Basin. These are subject to a variety of historical and current management practices which may be expected to produce diverse water quality conditions. Areas that are subject to up-to-date, science-based practices would be expected (eventually) to produce good water quality - for example, lands governed by a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) prepared under the Endangered Species Act.

Alternatives/Toolbox:

• No Action Alternative/Status Quo : Maintain the current focus on water quality problems. State Water Quality Cleanup Plans (aka TMDLs) will continue to be the dominant approach to water quality issues in the Chehalis, no special efforts would be made to protect high quality waters/habitat.

  Analysis: Presumably these would continue to deteriorate in response to population growth and economic development in the basin. This might occur slowly because most of the basin is not developing at a fast pace, and compensating improvements in the management of forest lands in the basin are in place or in process. Notwithstanding this general picture of gradual degradation, there would probably be areas where high quality waters are impacted more rapidly by development.

• Voluntary Approach : To be recognizably different from Status Quo, a voluntary approach must be more than general encouragement to take those actions that may improve water quality and to refrain from those that don't. To be effective, a voluntary approach should be active and should include at least the following general elements:
  1. Identify and inventory areas with high quality waters beyond those identified in Level 1 Assessment
  2. Assemble and publicize information on those locations where water quality is high
  3. Assess existing protections that these high quality waters have and understand how and why they support high quality waters
  4. Identify areas where existing protection programs are not likely to be effective
  5. Identify voluntary mechanisms and incentives which can improve protection where needed
  6. Obtain resources to implement voluntary approaches
  7. Provide technical assistance
  8. Publicize successful voluntary efforts/recognize successful individuals and institutions
  9. Monitor to assess success
  10. Apply adaptive management to make improvements where needed
• Enforcement of existing regulations : The existing Washington Water Quality Standards (WQS) regulations contain anti-degradation provisions that should serve to protect high quality waters. However, enforcement of these standards is not a popular program, and when budget cuts are made at the State Department of Ecology, the first programs to be cut are those that are not popular. Enforcement of existing water resource laws will bring benefits to local governments and water resource stakeholders, though it might at first seem to be a burdensome approach. Long term benefits of protecting high quality waters through enforcement of existing laws will likely outweigh the short term costs to stakeholders of such enforcement, though a cost-benefit analysis would be difficult.
• New Regulations : New regulations to protect high quality waters (that go beyond the anti-degradation provisions in WQS regulations) could work in theory but probably not in practice. It would require a combination of legislative action, technical resources, and administrative resources. Costs could be significant, and the political will to legislate, fund, and implement such an initiative would be difficult to muster as long as other alternatives can demonstrate progress

Analysis: The state has anti-degradation provisions in its existing WQS regulations and is proposing revisions to these regulations. The agency certainly would want to complete its current revision of WQS/anti-degradation before considering further changes. Above all, a new regulatory initiative in this area would not be consistent with the Chehalis Basin Partnership's preference for voluntary efforts.

Analysis:

Cost Effectiveness : Generally the most cost effective strategy and therefore the highest priority should be to identify areas of high water quality/habitat value and to protect them from further deterioration.

Political/Policy Factors : Some individuals have perceived the identification and subsequent protection of their lands as an infringement of their rights. They fear that this identification and protection will limit what they can do on their land. This is a legitimate concern, which must be addressed as a key element in any successful effort.

Identifying areas where water quality is high is challenging because there are limited funds for water quality monitoring and because much of the monitoring is driven by concerns about poor water quality. As a result, existing data tends to document water quality problems. A water quality monitoring program designed to represent the entire basin would be expensive and could compete for clean up and prevention efforts for funding. Nevertheless such an effort is essential to monitor trends and measure success.

Technical Issues : Design of comprehensive monitoring to support a good water initiative would require effort, but there are ample precedents available and some monitoring efforts underway. These could form the basis for a "Comprehensive Chehalis Basin Monitoring Program."

Voluntary Compliance : Support for a voluntary approach is consistent with enforcement of existing regulations. In fact, appropriate enforcement of regulations is essential to the success of a voluntary approach. Most individuals will not make voluntary changes to protect the environment at their own expense if they believe that others who are subject to legal or regulatory pollution abatement requirements are allowed to violate them with impunity.

Recommendations:

Reject the status quo approach because it does not provide sufficient focus on the protection of high quality waters. Therefore the quality of these waters may decline. If that occurs, not only will the high quality waters be lost as important resources, but this may compromise efforts to restore degraded water that are lower in the watershed and which depend on flows of high quality waters from the headwaters areas for the success of their restoration strategies.

Reject the additional regulatory approach as inconsistent with the Chehalis Basin Partnership's goals and objectives, too costly, lacking in public acceptance, inconsistent with Ecology's current revision of their anti-degradation policy, and politically unrealistic.

Implement the voluntary approach as outlined above in Alternatives and as discussed further below.

Management strategy : Launch a "Good Water Initiative." Select a lead entity. Begin by identifying areas of high water quality. Follow up on the information sources identified above under "Technical - Available Science" to develop and maintain a database of good waters. Expand the initiative to include other elements listed under Voluntary Approach included above in "Alternatives/Toolbox." Tap the local knowledge base and sound science to understand why certain areas support high quality waters. Coordinate with agencies involved in habitat protection by developing and implementing strategies to promote connectivity between high water quality areas.

Jurisdiction : Expand the scope of the Chehalis Basin Partnership Water Quality Committee beyond its current focus on TMDLs to add a "Good Water Initiative." The Chehalis Basin Partnership Water Quality Committee would be an ideal group to assist in developing and carrying out such an initiative. It would work closely with institutions with the authority and responsibility to protect water quality. Specific partner agencies would depend on land ownership and the actions needed to overcome threats to particular water bodies.

Policy or policies needed : At present, water quality management is driven by pollution problems that are addressed by the TMDL program. The Clean Water Act presumes that good water quality will be protected through state water quality standards programs, particularly anti-degradation. However, these provisions of the Clean Water Act have not generated programs to protect high quality waters that are as aggressive as those developed to clean up waters that are impaired. This is particularly true where the impairment results from nonpoint source pollution.

The critical first step would be to develop an inventory of such waters in the Chehalis Basin and to determine which governmental entities (local, state or federal) are responsible for and best able to provide the required protection. A second step would be to raise public consciousness regarding the importance of protecting high quality waters, and to increase its priority among governments at all levels (local, state, and federal). Subsequent steps would involve working with specific jurisdictions to strengthen protection accorded to the specific waters identified and others as discussed above under "Alternatives/Toolbox - Voluntary Approach."

Resources/funding needed : Resources would be needed for

• Developing a database on high quality waters
• Assessing existing protections and developing programs to upgrade any that are deficient
• Developing an understanding of how and why certain areas support high quality waters
• Providing technical assistance
• Publicity and recognition
• Monitor high quality waters
• Adaptive management
• Overall responsibility for management of the initiative

Data and ideas to protect high quality waters are available. Resources would be needed for pulling these together into a program that would motivate people and institutions in the Chehalis Basin to support a Good Water Initiative in a meaningful way.

Unanswered Questions/Issues :

Resources for operating the program and for developing an inventory of areas with high water quality.

Potential success of voluntary efforts.

Knowledge of how and why certain areas support high quality waters.

Responsibility for carrying out the program.

References/Suggested Reading:

See "Technical - Available Science" section above.

Issue Paper: Protecting High Quality Waters - Lee Daneker, EPA

Alternative Solutions	What You Get With This Solution	Comments
1 Status Quo	Current system provides whatever level of protection presently exists	-
2 Use coordinating priority system -Include for water quality and water quantity	Local control (local body would manage this )Achieve coordination between water quantity and water quality priorities	-
3 Strong voluntary approach	Non-regulatory Volunteer organization established to monitor Criteria to evaluate level of success and when regulations might be necessary, especially if voluntary efforts are not successful	-
4 Water Resource Master For Water Quantity, Water Quality, Habitat, Instream Flow a Broadly focused b Water right calls/ISF c Water quality monitoring plan - coordination d Habitat e Public involvement piece f Technical and people resource funding g Watershed management plan implementation For Water Rights Only a) Focus on water rights and water rights use	Possible local body (CBP) oversees employee, or hire through DOE for Chehalis Basin with State Law change to allow expanded role Establishes a community policy and provides authority for that policy Person able to focus on Chehalis Basin water quantity, water quality, habitat, and ISF issues and implement the watershed management plan - From both voluntary and regulatory approaches Possible focus only on water quantity	-
5 Strong regulatory approach	New laws, regulations locally for WQ, WQ, Habitat, ISF and "strong enforcement"	-

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