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JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (AP) — Tens of thousands of miles of smaller streams throughout Wyoming have been reclassified with lower water quality standards that allow five times higher concentrations of E. coli bacteria.
More than three-fourths of all of Wyoming's flowing waters now are considered "secondary-contact recreation" waters by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, The Jackson Hole News & Guide reported (http://bit.ly/1MtIA8D ).
The new designation posted Thursday covers 87,775 miles of streams with average flows of less than 6 cubic feet per second.
E. coli is introduced to watersheds primarily from feces from humans, wildlife or livestock. Contact with the bacteria can cause gastro-intestinal illness and, in severe cases, death.
The DEQ wrote that the agency wanted to identify streams where immersion, full-body contact or frequent use of the water by children is "non-existent" or "non-attainable."
"We made a decision in the state of Wyoming that it is in place and is the law of the land," David Waterstreet, who manages the DEQ's watershed protection program, said Friday.
But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could overturn the reclassifications, Waterstreet said. The EPA manages all of Wyoming's streams for primary-contact recreation, meaning waters that have stringent E. coli standards designed to protect human health and safety.
The EPA has told Wyoming to hold a public meeting on the changes, Waterstreet said.
At a meeting set for Sept. 16 in Casper, the public will be asked to comment on "existing and potential recreation activities" on streams marked for secondary-contact recreation.
Written comments cannot be mailed or emailed and will not be accepted by DEQ unless handed over in person at the Casper meeting, Waterstreet said.
Streams exempt from the change include those in national parks, within a mile of a school or within a half mile of a trailhead or campground. Waters a mile or closer to population densities of at least 55 persons per square mile are also exempt.
The Wyoming Outdoor Council's senior conservation advocate, Dan Heilig, described the DEQ's reclassification as having a broad effect.
"Basically major areas of the (Bureau of Land Management) and national forest are impacted by this," Heilig said, "including designated wilderness areas."
"If you're in the Gros Ventre or the Wind River Range or the Fitzpatrick or the Bridger Wilderness, those small tributary waters are not being managed for primary recreation," he said. "They're allowing five times more E. coli in those streams that have been reclassified, and those streams of course all flow downhill."
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Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com
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