Water Report Nears Completion
By D.E. Smoot, Muskogee Phoenix Staff Writer
Members of a two-state panel overseeing a water-quality study for the Illinois River Basin share a sense of optimism that they will be able to hammer out a final draft of their executive report when they meet in mid-November.
That optimism is based upon an express agreement among the six panelists that the numerical phosphorus standard set in 2003 for Oklahoma’s scenic rivers is valid. There also appears to be a desire, based upon comments made following a meeting convened Friday, to reach a consensus for the final report due before the end of the year.
“Reading the tea leaves from my vantage point is that all six members are coming together in saying the standard already promulgated is within the strike zone,” said Ed Fite, vice president of water quality for the Grand River Dam Authority, which now oversees the state’s scenic rivers system. “Now they are looking at how that will be measured, and we are on the sidelines waiting to see what happens.”
Fite served as scenic rivers administrator when the 0.037 mg/L standard, which was based upon research drawn from data gathered before the turn of the century, was promulgated and ultimately adopted. The standard was intended to address water-quality degradation that occurred as the population and business activity mushroomed within the Illinois River watershed.
