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Local Water Quality Issues
What's the Problem?
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) decides what water bodies are impaired and with what pollutants. If a stream is labeled impaired, it means that the stream does not meet Montana water quality standards. The stream has levels of a pollutant that are higher than what is healthy for either aquatic life, recreational activities, or drinking water.
In Kalispell, we have 4 steams and rivers that are listed as impaired or unhealthy by Montana DEQ.
Photo by Aimee Brunckhorst
Pollutants of Impairment and Impaired Uses
Ashley Creek |
Spring Creek |
Stillwater River |
Whitefish River |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Alteration in Vegetation | X |
X |
X |
|
Arsenic | X |
|||
Chlorophyll-a | X |
|||
Dissolved Oxygen | X |
X |
||
Flow Modification | X |
X |
||
Habitat Alterations | X |
|||
Oil and Grease | X |
|||
Nitrate-Nitrite | X |
X |
||
PCBs | X |
|||
Sediment | X |
X |
||
Temperature | X |
X |
||
Total Nitrogen | X |
X |
||
Total Phosphorus | X |
X |
||
IMPAIRED USE | Aquatic Life, Primary Contact Recreation |
Aquatic Life, Primary Contact Recreation, Drinking Water |
Aquatic Life |
Aquatic Life |
For more information on water quality impairments visit Montana DEQ's Clean Water Act Information Center.
What Should I do?
Reduce your contributions of pollutants to stormwater runoff as much as possible. Common residential pollutants can come from: