Big Dams, Big Ag and Toxic Algae
By Regina Chichizola, Klamath Riverkeeper

»The Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs on the Klamath River receive heavily-polluted water from surrounding agricultural lands. Excess nutrient pollution in Klamath reservoirs has given way to a more ominous villain — toxic algae. In recent years, the reservoirs have had some of the highest levels of the toxic algae Microcystis aeruginosa in the world. Microcystis aeruginosa can cause vomiting, stomach pain, rashes and diarrhea, and in the Klamath, has impacted traditional Native American ceremonies, whitewater rafting, swimming and fishing downstream.

The blooms occur in the summer as the shallow, nutrient rich water trapped behind the dams heats up and spurs algal growth. For years, downriver Tribes, fishermen and conservation groups have called for the removal of the dams to restore dramatically declining salmon runs and alleviate these toxic algal blooms.

While the state acknowledges that the algae is indeed a serious health risk, it has refused to regulate water quality in the Klamath reservoirs, claiming that the problem falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction. Likewise, the federal EPA has refused to regulate toxic algae. The most EPA is willing to do is issue the following statement:

Recreational exposure to toxic blue-green algae can cause eye irritation, allergic skin rash, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea, and cold and flu-like symptoms. Liver failure and death have occurred in rare situations where large amounts of contaminated water were directly ingested.

Klamath Riverkeeper is working with leaders from the Karuk and Yurok Tribes, recreational businesses and fishermen to make the Klamath dam owners — PacifiCorp and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway — clean up the Klamath. In May, Klamath Riverkeeper and other affected community members filed a nuisance lawsuit against PacifiCorp over the role the dams play in creating algae blooms and other conditions lethal to salmon. Klamath Riverkeeper is also taking on unregulated nutrient pollution, water transfers and factory farms on private and National Wildlife refuge lands upriver of the reservoirs.

In the Upper Klamath Basin, agriculture has had a free ride, leading to many of our wildlife refuges and wetlands being drained and farmed for cows and alfalfa. “Meanwhile, the endangered and endemic fish in the Klamath are nearing extinction, and refuges that are supposed to be protected for the largest waterfowl migration in the U.S. are instead becoming industrial farmland and agriculture sumps. It’s no wonder the high nutrient water coming into the reservoirs is stagnating.

Though the Klamath’s toxic algae situation is related to nutrient pollution, the fact remains that Warren Buffett’s PacifiCorp dams are creating and releasing a toxin that is turning the Klamath into a toxic stew. Klamath Riverkeeper remains committed to working with all those who use the Klamath River to stop the toxic algae blooms that are killing it. Riverkeeper looks forward to the forthcoming public nuisance trial as a means of forcing Buffett and PacifiCorp to take into account not only the health of the river but also its health effects on the people who swim, fish and drink it. w

Invasives
By Don McEnhill, Russian Riverkeeper
On the Russian River there is a massive infestation of invasive Ludwigia Hexapetala from South America. Opportunistic invaders like Ludwigia thrive on imbalances in local aquatic ecosystems. In our case, the imbalance is caused by nitrogen and phosphorus. Due to a flawed plan for the Santa Rosa regional wastewater plant, the facility has dumped massive amounts of nutrients into a small tributary. Recently, Russian Riverkeeper successfully argued for a new plan that would greatly reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the tributary, and the presence of Ludwigia.