The Current Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 9

A muddied river causes harm to fish and people

The primary issue that CalTrout and its partners are addressing is the heavy siltation of the river. The Environmental Protection Agency included the Elk River on its list of impaired water bodies in 1998 due to excessive sedimentation caused by historical and current logging practices. Over a period of 10 to 15 years, an estimated 640,000 cubic yards of fine sediment and organic debris washed into the North Fork, the South Fork, and the main stem Elk River. This sediment overload, far beyond the river's carrying capacity, caused major channel changes and resulted in “nuisance flooding”, damaged homes, and impaired drinking water supplies for local residents. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Board (referred to hereafter as the Regional Water Board) concluded that sedimentation is responsible for filling in much of the Elk River and reducing its channel capacity by as much as 60%. Because the river cannot bear all of the sediment washed into it, residents now experience flooding conditions on an average of four times per year.

There are about 20-25 homes that rely on the Elk River for their domestic water supply, but these residents can no longer use the water because the quality is so poor. The suspended sediment ruins pumps and fills storage tanks, and is extremely hard to filter out to make the water potable. Consequently, Humboldt Redwood Company trucks in fresh water to these residents and maintains expensive water filtration systems.

In 2004, the Regional Water Board received a petition from 64 Elk River residents requesting dredging of the in-stream sediment deposits to reduce flooding and improve the quality of their drinking water. The Regional Water Board rejected the petition citing the need for a lead entity and a feasibility study prior to initiating a major cleanup effort. Since then, CalTrout has stepped forward as a willing and viable lead entity.

For salmon and steelhead, swimming in the Elk River is similar to living perpetually in a smoke-filled barroom. The high concentration of suspended sediment reduces visibility and makes it difficult for fish to find food, abrades their gill surfaces, suppresses growth of algae at the bottom of the food-web resulting in less food availability, and contributes to a host of other negative ecological effects. The net outcome is that juvenile fish grow more slowly and experience diminished chances of survival in successive life stages.