© Whitman County Public Health

For the second consecutive year, there has been a toxic algal bloom in the lower Snake River. A toxin harmful to people, pets and livestock was recently found in water samples from this bloom. Toxic algal blooms like these are also dangerous for fish, as they can significantly decrease the amount of oxygen available in the water for threatened and endangered species like salmon and steelhead. This is concerning.

The lower four Snake River dams create slackwater pools that are dangerously hot for cold-water species like salmon. These hot slackwater pools also encourage algal growth. This means that as threatened and endangered salmon populations migrate through the river to their spawning grounds, they not only have to contend with the dangerously hot water that the dams and their reservoirs create, but they also encounter oxygen-depleted waters, making their journey more difficult and even lethal.

The Snake River is sick, and the science is clear that Snake River salmon need a free-flowing river for survival. I call upon all Northwest politicians including U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray to support the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, announced last December, in order to heal the lower Snake River and save salmon from extinction.

Henry Roller
Walla Walla

Union- Bulletin: 'Letter: Heal the Lower Snake River to save salmon from extinction' article link