The Chronicle, 7/11/1996
OLYMPIA (AP) - Sometimes the cause is human sewage. Sometimes it's waste-oil or lawn fertilizer. Whatever the cause, Washington waters are becoming less fit for drinking, fishing and swimming, state environmental officials said Wednesday.
"We are finding it harder and harder to keep up" with the monitoring and enforcement needed to prevent and reverse rising pollution of surface and ground water, said Steve Butkus, a spokesman for the Department of Ecology's Water Quality Program.
"It's certainly not at a crisis level, but it's at a level that is of concern. And if we can't keep up, then things could become a crisis level," he said. "All these things can be fixed. But it will take the right effort of government and local citizens."
In a report released this week, Butkus and his colleagues said the health of the state's surface and ground water is declining amid a growing human population and other pressures.
"Ground water supplies, once plentiful in the state, are now being challenged as never before. Population growth and, accompanying demands for water use, pesticides and nitrates in tested wells, and lower than average rainfall over the years are testing the state's ability to sustain high quality water supplies," the report said.
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