DEQ Aquatic Life Rulemaking Public Comment Period Opened

For the first time in over two decades, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is updating water quality rules to protect aquatic life in Oregon. Based on the draft rules, DRA is concerned that some water quality standards will be relaxed and these changes are not based on available data. On May 4, the public comment period opened and supporters of the lower Deschutes River need to make their voices heard in order to get the best possible standards and protect the aquatic life in the lower Deschutes. All comments are due by 5pm June 23.

How to make your voice heard:
Submit public comments – DRA has a list of concerns based on these draft rules. This newsletter contains an insert with DRA’s specific concerns. You can fill out the insert and mail it to DEQ to register your comments. You can also submit comments via email to aquaticlife.2022@deq.oregon.gov
Attend the public hearing on Tuesday June 6 at 4 p.m. The hearing will be held virtually. Join online via Zoom
Sign up for DRA’s email blasts. This is the best way to receive updates, reminders and how to attend the meeting and submit comments.

Background
DEQ is responsible for setting and enforcing water quality standards on Oregon waterways. The Aquatic Life Rulemaking standards determine if fish thrive or simply survive.

Our waterways are at continued risk due to climate change and increasing water demand. It is critical that standards are optimal for fish and other aquatic life to thrive, because once these standards are set they will directly affect how water quality permits are written and enforced, and determine which streams in Oregon are identified as impaired and require in-depth water quality studies to protect them.

As part of the rulemaking process, the maps that detail where and when water quality standards apply will also be updated for the first time in 20 years. This update is important because, improved fish passage, the reintroduction of native species, updates on when and where fish species are distributed, and improved mapping technology and climate change have occurred.

How rules are applied
DEQ applies rules and standards to waterways depending on defined aquatic life use of the water and waterway. As an example, DEQ applies standards (i.e. temperature, pH levels, etc) to stream areas identified by the species use such as spawning and juvenile-rearing habitat or cold water habitat. If one of those uses required a stricter water quality standard, like spawning, the more protective standard becomes the benchmark for the standard used for that area.

DEQ can also decide to change the standards if they determine the use has changed or is no longer exists. Such rule changes can cause a decline in water quality and damage to the most vulnerable species or use. These types of decisions are part of the rulemaking process and it is crucial to let DEQ know aquatic life requires the highest water quality standards possible and, more importantly, the rigorous enforcement of those standards.

The proposed rules will relax the standard for pH in the Crooked River subbasin and Trout Creek from 8.5 to 9.0. Enforcement of the 9.0 standard will rely on an ambient monitoring program which is an insufficient monitoring program. Raising the upper threshold to 9.0 eliminates any likely protection from anthropogenic nutrient enrichment. Until an adequate sampling program can be implemented the standard should remain at 8.5, and even then, serious pH violations – and water quality degradation – may well go undocumented. In addition allowing water quality in the Crooked River and Trout Creek to further degrade will also harm water quality in the lower Deschutes River.

DEQ is also proposing that the spawning criteria for dissolved oxygen and temperature end May 15, and June 15 in waters designated as “Salmon and Trout Rearing & Migration” and “Core Cold Water Habitat” respectively. This is at odds with well documented studies and knowledge of trout spawning in a number of streams in Oregon, including the lower Deschutes and McKenzie rivers. Clearly the one size fits all end date for trout spawning is an attempt by DEQ to make management of the DO standard simpler; it clearly will not provide better protection for spawning trout throughout Oregon.

The DRA encourages you to voice your opinion during this unique and critical opportunity to protect our waterways and the aquatic life that depends upon them.

DRA’s Top Concerns with DEQ’s Proposed Aquatic Life Rules

Based on current information, the DRA has serious issues with DEQ’s proposed draft rulemaking decisions. The DRA proposed changes are slight and will have enormous benefits for the fish, aquatic life, and the Oregonians who cherish these waterways for their relaxation, and livelihoods.

DRA’s main issues of concern are:

1. DEQ rules must provide sufficient dissolved oxygen where and when resident trout spawning is known to occur.
   Dissolved oxygen (DO) is critical during the trout spawning and egg incubating phase. The proposed rules adjusted start dates for the trout spawning and incubation period, but not the end dates, creating a one size fits all end date of May 15 or June 15 throughout Oregon. For example, it is well documented that trout spawning and incubation extends beyond these dates in the lower Deschutes River. DEQ must apply the appropriate DO standard to protect resident trout spawning period in the lower Deschutes River.
2. Relaxing pH standards will further contribute to downstream standards violations and continue to impair aquatic ecosystems
   Currently, pH-related water quality in the Crooked River and Trout Creek is considered “impaired” and regularly fails to meet biologically-based standards, as well as being in need of clean-up. The proposed changes allow for even higher pH levels. This will continue to degrade water quality in the Crooked River, Trout Creek, and downstream in Lake Billy Chinook, and the lower Deschutes River. DRA demands DEQ drop its proposed relaxation of the pH standards in the Crooked River and Trout Creek, and start enforcing the law to improve the current water quality for all aquatic life, and the people who depend on clean water.
3. Use this opportunity to protect cold water refugia in the Columbia River
   Already identified by the US EPA as a tool for reducing mortalities in the Columbia River, the role of cold water refugia for migrating salmon and steelhead is increasingly important as global temperatures rise. DEQ must take this opportunity to enshrine cold water refugia – like that at the mouth of the lower Deschutes River – so dwindling runs of salmon and steelhead are provided critical relief when returning to their spawning areas.
4. DEQ’s new rules fail to follow ODFW spawning use tables for resident trout
   ODFW has a comprehensive set of tables that identify resident trout spawning through egg and fry incubation for stream systems throughout the state. DEQ’s attempt to simplify the DO standard for spawning trout by setting blanket end dates of May 15 or June 15, ignores information readily available from ODFW. DEQ says they use the best available science and information currently available, but clearly this is not the case. DEQ needs to put the adequate protection of resident trout above their desire to simplify water quality standards.
5. Serious flaws in the draft beneficial use map. The Core Cold-Water Habitat designation for temperature and new Cold-Water Aquatic Life designation for Dissolved Oxygen in the draft beneficial use maps for lower Deschutes River only applies from the start of the lower Deschutes to the confluence with the Warm Springs River. This designation is meant to protect salmonid-dominated communities, and/or Bull Trout presence during July and August. The change to less protective temperature and dissolved oxygen standards in the lower Deschutes downstream of the Warm Springs River has no biological basis. Because of the well-documented presence of (1) juvenile and subadult Bull Trout rearing in the lower Deschutes River extending downstream at least to Maupin and (2) juvenile summer steelhead rearing year-round, the stricter “cold-water” standards for temperature and dissolved oxygen should also be extended further downstream to properly protect these ESA-listed species.
6. DEQ must provide for a more regular review of fish and Aquatic Life Use Maps
   Waiting 20 years to make changes to the Aquatic Life Use Maps is too long. Climate change is occurring much faster than forecast and water quality must be a priority. DEQ needs to include mechanisms requiring more frequent review, revision, and enforcement, of water quality standards in order to protect the aquatic life, and the people, who rely on water to survive and thrive.

Warmer River Temperatures in the Lower Deschutes Harm Aquatic Life

SWW Tower operations have intentionally shifted the thermal regime in the lower Deschutes River. USGS temperature data collected in the lower Deschutes River was recently analyzed. This analysis detailed in our 2022 Water Quality Report shows that since selective withdrawal (SWW) Tower operations started in December 2009 the river is now warmer during most of the year. This is due to the increased proportion of warm surface water from Lake Billy Chinook released directly into the lower Deschutes via the Tower. Prior to installation of the SWW tower, only cool, clean water from the bottom of Lake Billy Chinook was released into the lower Deschutes River.

Figure 16a from the 2022 Water Quality Report depicts the difference in lower Deschutes River temperatures at the USGS Madras Gauge just downstream of Lake Billy Chinook between (1) all years post-tower operations 2009-2022 and (2) the period of record for temperature data at the same site pre-tower operations from the 1970s to 2009. The temperature difference is displayed by calendar day, which means positive values depicted in red indicate dates during the year that are now warmer in the lower Deschutes following SWW Tower operations, whereas negative values depicted in blue indicate dates during the year when the river is now cooler. The larger the value, the warmer or colder the river temperatures are following tower operations.

Figure 16a. Graphed values depict difference between (1) the average 7DADM (7-day average daily maximum) temperature calculated from 13 years during tower operations (12/02/09 to 12/31/22) and (2) the average 7DADM of lower during 21 years before Tower operations (10/01/1971 – 09/30/1988, 11/04/2005 – 12/01/2009) at RM 100 just downstream of the Reregulation Dam tailrace.  Data source: USGS (monitoring location 14092500).

As shown by the graph, the data clearly shows that even though the river is mildly cooler (~0.5C) in the late summer through fall, this cooling is relatively small compared to the warming during the rest of the year (over 2.5C warmer in May). One of the main reasons cited by PGE (the dam operators) for the new temperature regime is that they must save cold water to release into the lower Deschutes River in the fall. This graph shows that the cooling in the fall is negligible and far outweighed by the warming occurring the rest of the year.

Water temperature is very important to river ecosystems. PGE has intentionally made the shift in river temperatures depicted in Figure 16a, but no data-driven explanation has been provided and there has been no proven benefit to aquatic life. On the contrary, the disproportionate warming caused by Tower operations has likely been a contributing factor to the numerous unintentional consequences that have been observed in the lower Deschutes following Tower operations, including:

• Increased nuisance algae/diatoms (Figures A and B): in addition to the excess nutrients contained in the surface water being released by the Tower into the lower Deschutes, warmer water temperatures are likely contributing to the widely observed earlier-in-the-year and more dense growth of nuisance algae and diatoms.

Figures A and B: Mats of algae and stalked diatoms are now a common occurrence in the lower Deschutes River. Photo credit: Rick Hafele.

• Declining aquatic insects: in-part due to the shift in algal community to algae that insects are not able to feed on and an overall reduction of suitable habitat, sensitive aquatic insect groups have declined. Insect declines have primarily been from the mayfly, stonefly, caddisfly, and cranefly groups. Alteration of life cycles, including later hatch timing, has also occurred.
• Fish parasites: warmer water temperatures and excessive algal growth has caused a shift in the macroinvertebrate community that has resulted in conditions that favor high concentrations of worms and snails. This is concerning since some of these worm and snail species serve as intermediate hosts of fish parasites that cause disease and mortality. This is the likely explanation for the increase in black spot disease seen in trout and, of particular concern, C. shasta in Chinook salmon.
• Clean Water Act Violations: from 2020-2022, the DRA has observed water temperatures that exceed the steelhead and salmon spawning and incubation period standard of 13 °C from October 15^th– June 15^th during the month of June. This standard is set to protect this sensitive life history stage of salmonids and, by extension, is important to other sensitive aquatic species. In 2022, the 13 °C standard during the designated time period was violated for 8 days in June and 7 days in October. Clean Water Act Violations of pH and Dissolved Oxygen standards have also been continually observed since the DRA started collecting continual water quality data in 2016.
• Degradation of Cold-Water Refugia for Upper Columbia Salmonids: The lower Deschutes River is one of the more important cold-water refugium for Upper Columbia River Basin adult salmon and steelhead as they migrate into the upper reaches of the Columbia. Increasing the water temperature in the lower Deschutes is counterproductive to larger management goals for salmonids in the Columbia River Basin and potentially eliminates or seriously degrades this important cold-water refugium for anadromous fish. Particularly since the Deschutes River is the only significant thermal refuge in the >250km reach of the Columbia River from The Dalles Dam to Lower Monumental Dam.
• Increasing warmwater fish intrusion into the lower Deschutes: Warmer water earlier in the year is likely what encourages smallmouth bass to migrate from the Columbia River, where they are abundant, up the Deschutes, possibly in search of food resources. The capture of smallmouth bass by steelhead anglers in the lower 40 miles of the Deschutes River during the summers of 2016 and 2017 exceeded anything in recent memory and remain seasonally very abundant. In 2017, walleye were also caught in the lower Deschutes River near its mouth for the first time. Subsequent investigations by the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife confirmed smallmouth bass presence in numbers never previously observed by them. The reason for the increased presence of nonnative warmwater fish species are not completely clear, but higher water temperatures in the lower Deschutes River through July compared to pre-SWW Tower temperatures (Figure 16a) is one explanation. The impact this will have on the lower Deschutes River is currently unknown, but increased predation of native fish is unavoidable.

Fortunately, there is a simple and immediate solution to the problems listed above. The DRA has long advocated and will continue to advocate for the increase of cool, clean, bottom-water releases from Lake Billy Chinook. Figure C below shows the temperature data collected by the DRA in 2022 (blue line) graphed with the percent bottom draw from the SWW Tower in Lake Billy Chinook (black line).

Figure C. Rolling 7-day average daily maximum (7DADM) temperature data in the lower Deschutes River and the percent bottom draw from the selective withdrawal tower in 2022. Temperature data collected by the DRA; percent bottom draw data retrieved from a public records request DRA submitted to Oregon DEQ.

As the DRA has observed in previous years, the 2022 data shows that almost immediately following three abrupt increases in cool, clean bottom water during hot summer months, river temperatures responded by cooling substantially. This, and similar trends seen with other water quality parameters (principally pH), demonstrate that maximizing cool water releases from the Tower would produce healthier river conditions in the lower Deschutes River. For more information, please read our 2022 Lower Deschutes River Water Quality Report.