A new report by the Idaho Conservation League found that the Snake River, which spans the breadth of the state, has made dramatic progress in water quality, but ongoing threats still make the river unsafe in many areas.
In its first-ever ‘State of the Snake’ report, the ICL, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental issues in Idaho, used data from a variety of sources to capture a comprehensive understanding of the river’s health.
The ICL found that the concentration of phosphorus, historically the river’s main pollutant due to its use in agricultural practices, has declined substantially in the last three decades. Measurements taken at Celebration Park in Canyon County show that total phosphorus concentrations have decreased by around 33% since the 1990s.
According to the report’s author Josh Johnson, the ICL’s central Idaho director, improvements in certain areas of the river’s health are often complicated by changes in other factors…