Washington State Lake Protection Association - WALPA

https://wix.to/huHMOKB
Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is one of the most photographed lakes in the American West.

But beneath that beauty lies one of the largest toxic legacies in U.S. history.

Starting in the 1880s, silver mines in Idaho's Silver Valley dumped waste directly into the Coeur d'Alene River. For nearly a century, contaminated sediment flowed downstream. Today, an estimated 75 million metric tons of lakebed sediment is laden with lead, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium.

Right now, those metals aren't moving. Oxygen at the sediment-water interface keeps them chemically locked in place. They are entombed beneath the water you swim in, fish in, and boat on.

But….. if nutrients increase — from either development or warming; the oxygen in the bottom can become depleted, this will cause chemistry shifts, and a tomb a century in the making will open.

That's why the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the state of Idaho, and local communities have spent decades managing nutrient and metal inputs, cleaning contaminated soils, and monitoring the lake's chemistry. Their efforts are working and metal concentrations in the lake water are declining.

But 75 million metric tons are still there.. buried at the bottom of the lake.

So the next time you see DEQ or Coeur d'Alene Tribe crews on the water, or hear about new rules protecting the lake — remember, that's not bureaucracy. That's the only thing keeping that metal tomb sealed.

🌏🌱🌿HAPPY EARTH DAY 🌍🌸🌳