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Show is discharged into the river and its tributaries. In addition, industries-principally pulp and paper mills-discharge wastes with a population equiv- alent to more than 3 million. Wastes from people and the industrial establishments in the Willamette watershed have degraded this stream in its lower reaches to the point where recreation fishing and consumptive uses are prohibited during low water. A State program for clearing the Willamette and tributaries is now under way. New Oregon State laws require towns, cities, and industries adjacent to the Willamette or tributary streams to provide treatment for wastes which will keep the stream at a minimum standard of purity. It is expected that this program may be near completion by 1953. A number of important fishery streams in the lower Columbia area have been partially blocked by logging operations, while sawmill log ponds have impaired the utility of others. Large quantities of sediment are washed into streams of the basin from farm and range lands in the course of logging operations and by mining operations. More than 14 million tons of sediment were dredged from the Columbia River drainage basin during 1949. Locations of heaviest stream damage other than that caused by organic wastes are in the Clark Fork River above Missoula, Mont., the Coeur d'Alene River above Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, and the Columbia and Pend Oreille Rivers above Lake Franklin D. Roosevelt. In some reaches of these streams, tailings and other mine wastes have ren- dered the water useless for many purposes. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a community of 12,000 people, ob- tains its water from Coeur d'Alene Lake, where lead concentrations have been found at times to be excessive. Other stream degradations are found in highly developed irrigation areas below communities dis- charging raw or partially treated sewage and in- dustrial plant wastes. Because of the tremendous water requirements for irrigation in these areas, nearly all of the stream flows are diverted during the late summer and early fall months so that little water remains for the dilution and natural purifica- tion of sewage. In a number of places the sewage and industrial wastes are diverted from drainage courses for irrigation use. Principal areas where these conditions exist are in the upper Snake River Basin and in the Yakima River Basin in Washington. Available data indicate that 108 new treatment plants and enlargement of 78 existing plants are required by the municipalities in the basin. In the judgment of the Public Health Service, new information undoubtedly will show that this esti- mate of needs is low. Recreation Facilities Experience has shown that the recreation use of reservoirs in this area is large and that it can readily be provided for if it is programed as one of the purposes of river development. The need is particularly acute in central Washington and southern Idaho, where similar natural facilities are scarce. Operation and maintenance programs should be worked out jointly by local, State, and Federal agencies to satisfy the special needs in each case. 26 |