The Klamath River Basin's other dam!

Action Alert

Another Klamath River Dam Threatens Salmon and Public Health! Take Action now; tell the North Coast and State Water Boards to clean—up Dwinnell Reservoir

Dwinnell Reservoir (also known as Lake Shastina) was built at river mile 40 on the Shasta River in 1926 blocking all fish passage. Within ten years Spring Chinook salmon, which had been abundant in this River which rises on the north slopes of Mount Shasta and Mount Eddy, were extinct in the watershed. Nevertheless, as recently as the late 1990s the California Department of Fish & Game declared the Shasta River the most important watershed to survival of Klamath Fall Chinook.

In 2005 as part of developing a clean-up plan for the polluted Shasta River, the North Coast Water Quality Board commissioned a study of Dwinnell Reservoir. Water quality tests revealed a shallow reservoir which is highly polluted. High water temperature and high nutrients have combined to produce a reservoir subject to unhealthy algae blooms. Among algae species found in Dwinnell Reservoir is Anabaena flos-aquae, one of the most toxic strains of cyanobacteria, a type of blue-green algae. According to health advisories, Anabaena flos-aquae not only produces swimmers itch but is also both a hepatatoxin and a neurotoxin. In fact, anatoxin-a found in Anabena flow-aquae is “an organic phosphate, similar in its action to synthetic organophosphate pesticides such as parathion and malathion. Anatoxin-a(s) is the only natural organophosphate known.” Parathion and Malathion are being phased out in the US and are already banned in many countries due to the threats they poses to human and environmental health.

In addition to toxic algae, the sediments at the bottom of the shallow reservoir are likely to contain dioxins and other chemicals originating from the Roseburg-Baxter Superfund Site upstream in Weed, California. The dioxins at one point were found in creek sediments. Later tests could not locate the toxic sediments; they likely were washed down and into Dwinnell Reservoir.

The water quality in Dwinnell Reservoir is so bad that pure ammonia is sometimes produced. Ammonia is directly toxic to fish; many fish kills in Dwinnell Reservoir have been documented.

Finally, the algae and other toxic chemicals produced in Dwinnell reservoir are also present below the dam in the Shasta River. The study commissioned by the North Coast Water Board in 2005 found that “there is insufficient data (in the reservoir, irrigation canals and downstream river reaches) to assess the impacts of reservoir releases on ….. downstream river reaches” and called for “more vigilant monitoring …. at Shastina to determine if there are any health risks associated with toxic substances originating from cyanobacteria.”

In spite of these calls, no water quality monitoring is currently taking place at Dwinnell Reservoir nor is an effort underway to determine the impact on salmon and other aquatic species below the lake. Furthermore, county and state health officials have been slow to address the obvious health risks. While Oregon manages blue-green algae conditions in surface waters through testing, advisories, and even lake closures, Siskiyou County and California officials have largely ignored toxic algae in Klamath Basin Reservoirs. Perhaps worst of all, the Northcoast Water Board decided not to adequately address Dwinnell Reservoir in the Shasta River Clean-up Plan it adopted last year. Instead, the Northcoast Board said it would get around to the problems in Dwinnell at some future date. So far it appears that nothing significant has been done!

With Klamath River tribes, fishing and environmental interests preoccupied with the campaign to remove PacifiCorp’s Klamath River Dams, the impacts on humans and salmon of Dwinnell Reservoir are being ignored! That is why it is important for YOU to take action now to urge California Water Quality Officials not to forget the Shasta River and the impact of toxic algae and other pollutants on the Klamath River’s most important salmon stream. Removing the PafifiCorp dams will not magically restore salmon; the Shasta River is critical to salmon recovery!

Please contact the Northcoast Water Quality Board and the State Water Resources Board. You will find contact information below. Tell them not to forget the Shasta River and their responsibility to protect human health and water quality. Ask for a focused monitoring program designed to determine the impact of Dwinnell Reservoir on Shasta River water quality and salmon stocks. Ask these officials to clean up Dwinnell Reservoir in order to protect public health and to restore Shasta and Klamath River Chinook salmon.

A sample letter is attached for your convenience. Taking out PacifiCorps Klamath River dams is important but it alone will not restore the Klamath River. Help keep the Klamath River Basin’s other restoration needs from being forgotten; please take action soon. Contact:

Catherine Kuhlman, EO and
John Corbett, chairman
North Coast Water Quality Board
5550 Skylane Blvd., Suite A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Fax 707-523-0135
via e-mail: ckuhlman [at] waterboards.ca.gov

Tam Doduc, chairperson
Dorothy Rice, ED
State Water Resources Control Board
P.O. Box 100
Sacramento, CA 95812
fax (916) 341-5252
Via e-mail: TDoduc [at] waterboards.ca.gov

Report on Lake Shastina Limnology - including water quality - is attached.