Columbia River Basin Toxics Reduction Working Group
Columbia River Information
Future Meetings
Tuesday June 10
9:30 - 3:30
Board of Commissioners Meeting Room
601 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
On this Page: Group Formation | Group Activities | State of the River Report | Meeting Notes | Presentations
 | The Columbia River Basin has been a priority for EPA Region 10 for several years and was identified as one of seven Large Aquatic Ecosystems in EPA’s 2006-2011 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan lays out the following objective for the Columbia River Basin: prevent water pollution and improve and protect water quality and ecosystems to reduce risks to human health and the environment. |
Formation of Columbia River Toxics Reduction Working Group
To better characterize the risk to human health and ecosystems in the Columbia River Basin, EPA, other federal agencies, States, tribes, and non-profit partners established a working group. The goal of the working group is to prevent and reduce toxic concentrations and loads in the Columbia River, including reducing toxics in the fish that people eat.
The working group consists of a steering committee and several subgroups working on specific issues related to the toxics reduction effort (e.g., identification of contaminants of concern). The main objectives of the working group are to: identify additional monitoring needs; identify sources of toxics; and initiate toxic reduction actions.
Group Activities
The working group has been meeting since 2005 to share information, coordinate activities, and develop strategies to identify and then reduce toxics. The working group recognized that considerable efforts to characterize the toxics problem and initiate clean up efforts are already underway (e.g., Hanford, Portland Harbor, Lake Roosevelt, and the Estuary Partnership) and that it was important for the group to not duplicate past or ongoing efforts. The meetings have provided a forum for scientists from different organizations to share their work, coordinate efforts and increase collaboration.
State of the River Report
The working group acknowledged that an important step is to “tell the story” of the toxics problems and solutions for the Columbia River Basin by developing a State of the River Report for Toxics to be completed by Fall 2008. The report will be used to assist in educating people about the problems in the Columbia River Basin and to garner support for toxics reduction efforts. In order to focus the discussion of the working group and to assist in developing the State of the River Report the following tasks were identified:
- Identify the priority contaminants (e.g., legacy, current use, and emerging toxics) for evaluation and the sampling matrix (e.g., sediments, water, fish tissue)
- Collect and evaluate the available data for these priority contaminants
- Identify current sources of priority contaminants
- Identify current reduction efforts for the priority contaminants
- Identify data gaps and additional monitoring needs
- Design a monitoring study and collect additional data as needed
- Develop recommendations and implement actions to reduce toxics
Meeting Notes
- Meeting Summary - February 7, 2008 (PDF) (2 pp. 27K)
- Meeting Summary Tacoma, WA - October 30, 2007 (PDF) (2 pp. 35K)
- Meeting Summary Lacey, WA - July 17, 2007 (PDF) (4 pp. 35K)
- Meeting Summary Lacey, WA - April 9, 2007 (54K, 3pp, PDF)
- Meeting Summary Portland, OR - December 6, 2006 (35K, 3pp, PDF)
- Meeting Summary Richland, WA - September 21, 2006 (32K, 2pp, PDF)
- Meeting Summary Toppenish, WA - June 22, 2006 (78K, 7pp, PDF)
- Meeting Summary Lacey, WA - March 30, 2006 (229K, 6pp, PDF)
- Meeting Summary Portland, OR - December 6, 2005 (56K, 2pp, PDF)
Presentations
- Mercury in the Snake River Basin (PDF) (24 pp. 1MB)
- Contaminants and Fish-Eating Osprey Nesting Along the Lower Columbia River, 1997/1998 and 2004 (PDF) (17 pp. 1.1MB)
- Monitoring Toxic Contaminants in Washington Washington’s Freshwater Fish (PDF) (26 pp. 1.4MB)
- Pollution in People: A Study of Toxic Chemicals in Oregonians (PDF) (17 pp. 170K)
- DEQ 2007 Mercury Reduction Strategy (PDF) (16 pp. 348K)
- Sources, Transport, and Fate of Mercury in the Atmosphere (PDF) (13 pp. 733K) October 30, 2007
- Possible Indicators for the Columbia River Basin (PDF) (17 pp. 738K) October 30, 2007
- Mercury contamination in the Columbia River Basin—Sources and Pathway Pathways (PDF) (58 pp. 1.8MB) October 30, 2007
- Contaminants and Potential Effects on the Reproductive Physiology of White Sturgeon from the Columbia River (PDF) (17 pp. 530K) by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on July 17, 2007.
- Willamette Basin Mercury TMDL by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (1.8mb, 30pp, .pdf)
- Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) Update Upper Columbia River Site by EPA, Region 10 (1.8mb, 32pp, .pdf)
- Human and Ecosystem Health Hurricane Katrina / Columbia River (1.3mb, 27pp, PDF)
- Toxics Monitoring Program Design Alternatives (7.4mb, 12pp, PDF)
- Agency Responses to Identifying Toxics of Concern (3.2mb, 23pp, PDF)