[env-trinity] Two Rivers Tribune- What's Up the Trinity?

[Tom Stokely]

What’s Up the Trinity?
http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2012/04/whats-up-the-trinity/ 

The South Fork of the Trinity River discharged massive amounts of sediment into the mainstem Trinity River as a result of large landslides. Although the sediments made it all the way to Hoopa, the Tribe’s drinking water treatment system is resilient enough to easily handle the turbidity and maintain high quality drinking water. / Photo courtesy of Hoopa Tribal EPA.
Water Quality on the River

By CURTIS MILLER, Hoopa Tribal Environmental Protection Agency (TEPA)

In summer 2011 the Hoopa Tribal EPA completed the third year of the Lower Trinity Source Water Assessment Project (SWAP). Funded by the U.S. EPA, the Tribal EPA (TEPA) has been conducting assessments of the Trinity River from the South fork on down to the tribe’s drinking water intake in Hoopa since 2007. Over the last four years TEPA has documented multiple sources of possible contaminants highlighting the most prevalent ones such as forest roads, landslides, septic tanks, pesticides, highway run-off, illegal open dumps and marijuana growing.

Most of the lands of the Trinity River watershed are managed by the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Both Forests have been actively working to reduce miles of forest roads contributing to sediment run-off for the past 10 years and continue to reduce sediment run-off by restoring degraded roads and erosive lands. However, the South Fork Trinity watershed is plagued by three major landslides totaling 136 acres. These landslides are the major contributors to sediments in the watershed. In the summer 2011 from July 18 to July 20, mid-summer rainfall caused a large landslide to give way and discharge hundreds of tons of sediment into the river below. These landslides are extremely steep and very active and will continue to purge sediment into the Trinity for years to come.

Septic tanks are the only form of waste water treatment throughout the Klamath-Trinity watersheds. Along the Lower Trinity, TEPA conducts tests for bacteria from waters seeping out of the banks of the river from underneath home sites where people live.

A total of 26 sites are tested for fecal bacteria and as of 2011 all of the seeps tested well below levels regulated by the State of California water quality control. TEPA will continue to test these sites in summer 2012 and report on results to the County public health if any results show high readings.

Although pesticides are used along the Trinity, the total number of pesticides has reduced since 2007. Most pesticides used along the Lower Trinity are on the Sun Valley Bulb Farm which does not grow food crops but only flowers and ornamental plants. Most other farms are registered organic and do not use any pesticides except Trinity River Farm which uses round-up for weed control but does not spray any pesticides on crops.

Highway run-off from 299 and Highway 96 can contain oil and grease residuals from parking lots and the thousands of vehicles that travel along the Trinity during the year. However, because these contaminants float on top of the water, they are much less likely to be sucked up from underneath the gravel be in the river and contaminate the Tribes drinking water.

Illegal open dumps are a well known source of contaminants to the watershed. One of the most prevalent and threatening dump is the one that keeps showing up off Telescope road in Hoopa. This notorious illegal dump site drains a noxious cocktail of seepage into a stream that flows into lower Campbell creek. The mouth of Campbell creek is a favorite swimming spot for many Hupa people including families with small children.

Also, Campbell creek drains into the Trinity River only 3 miles upstream of the tribe’s drinking water intake. Continued use of this site by illegal dumpers not only threatens swimmers directly, but also threatens one of the most important beneficial uses of the river which is for a drinking water source. Since 2005 TEPA has cleaned up the site three times costing tens of thousands of dollars. Finally as a last resort the Tribe authorized the installation of a gate to limit access and keep people from continued dumping. This method of abatement will continue as long people continue to dump trash illegally and threaten the health and welfare of the Hupa people and their environment.

As all of us are well aware, large scale marijuana growing by drug cartels and others has caused multiple problems throughout the Trinity watershed. The most obvious and impactful to the River has been the massive blooms of green algae resulting from hundreds of pounds of chemical fertilizers used in pot gardens containing thousands of plants. In 2009, the algae was so bad that it covered the entire bottom of the River from the South fork all the way through the Hoopa Valley. Fortunately, due to the sophisticated filtering system of the tribe’s drinking water plant, algae was mostly a nuisance causing fouling of certain instruments that had to be flushed occasionally.

In 2010 and 2011 state, federal, and local law enforcement stepped up CAMP operations to eradicate these large grows and keep them from expanding operations. Combined with the late spring rains and abundant snow-pack in 2011, water quality in the Trinity was dramatically improved and algae blooms were literally non-existent. This allowed the Trinity to remain crystal clear and refreshing throughout the summer.

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