OKLAHOMA CITY – A new report by an environmental group contends that half of the water in the U.S. is too polluted for swimming, fishing or drinking – and that includes parts of Oklahoma’s waterways and lakes and reservoirs.
The report was released by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit created by former Environmental Protection Agency attorneys. They published a report that found more than 700,000 miles of waterways, about 51% of assessed river and stream miles nationwide, are impaired by pollution.
Half a century after passage of the landmark federal Clean Water Act, and almost four decades after the law’s deadline for all waters across the U.S. to be “fishable and swimmable,” 50% of assessed river and stream miles – 703,417 miles nationally — are so polluted they are classified as “impaired,” the EIP lamented.
The EIP report ranked Oklahoma 19th highest in the nation. Of Oklahoma’s 78,778 miles of rivers and streams, 9,402 miles were evaluated for ability to support swimming and other forms of recreation, and 5,345 of those miles (57%) were deemed to be “impaired.” Of the 2,025 miles of rivers and streams in Oklahoma that were evaluated for drinking water, 16% were rated impaired.
State-provided data show that 55% of lake acres throughout the nation that have been studied in recent years are impaired, the EIP reported.
The EIP defines “impaired” as waters that are too polluted to meet standards for swimming and recreation, aquatic life, fish consumption, and/or as sources of drinking water.
Lakes ‘impairment’
is turbidity, DEQ says
The EIP maintained that of 315,957 surface acres of lakes and reservoirs in Oklahoma that were assessed for support of swimming and recreation, just 3% (9,602 acres) were impaired due to pollution.
However, the EIP claimed that 493,748 lake acres in Oklahoma were assessed for support of aquatic life, and 96% of those acres were rated as impaired.
“That number seems awfully high to me,” said Bill Cauthron, chief of the Water Quality Division in the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. “I’d like to know whether those impairments include turbidity or suspended solids, or something else. Just because a body of water is impaired doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unsafe.”
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality reported evaluating 608,104 acres of surface waters in the state. Of those, 21,660 acres fully supported the Warm Water Aquatic Community designated use and were in compliance with all parameters of the water quality standards.
Information needed to evaluate WWAC compliance on 114,356 acres was insufficient; some data was collected but more information is needed, DEQ spokeswoman Skylar McElhaney told Southwest Ledger. “It only takes missing one parameter to list the waterbody as Insufficient Information available.” Of the data that was assessed, no parameters were below water quality standards, she said.
That left 472,088 acres, of which 377,207 acres (80%) are listed as impaired for Warm Water Aquatic Community designated use. The impairment is turbidity, “the cloudiness of the water,” McElhaney said.
The OWRB administers the Beneficial Use Monitoring Program for Oklahoma’s lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers. The agency collects data for long-term assessment of beneficial uses and water quality trends at 130 lakes, 100 river and stream sites, and 750 wells in Oklahoma’s 21 major aquifers. The BUMP is undergoing a “holistic evaluation and redesign to meet changing data needs,” Cauthron said last August.
The Environmental Integrity Project indicated its evaluations of Oklahoma waters were based on “Water Quality in Oklahoma: 2020 Report” from the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The DEQ monitors public drinking water and wastewater treatment systems for compliance with regulatory standards. The agency also manages the Total Maximum Daily Load program for the state, McElhaney said.
A TMDL is the process of establishing the sources of impairment in a given waterbody, whether from point sources (discharges) or non-point sources (runoff), and determining the amount of reduction necessary to meet water quality standards in the waterbody, the agency reported.
The DEQ “performs only minimal surface water monitoring for TMDLs and it is usually through a contract with another entity,” McElhaney said. The Water Resources Board monitors lakes and larger rivers and streams, while the state Conservation Commission monitors smaller streams, she noted.
According to the Environmental Integrity Project, two-thirds of EPA’s industry-specific water pollution limits have not been updated in more than three decades, despite the law’s mandate for reviews every five years to keep pace with advances in treatment technologies. As an illustration, the EIP describes Total Maximum Daily Loads as “toothless cleanup plans.”