Marina Steiner, a graduate student with Greg Moller in the Soil and Water Systems Department, travels to Uzbekistan to help determine scope of water quality issues, read more.
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OUR GEM: Coeur d’Alene’s Wastewater History
OUR GEM: Coeur d’Alene’s Wastewater History By Mike Anderson, City of Coeur d’Alene Wastewater Utility Director In 1939, the City of Coeur d’Alene began treating its wastewater at a brand-new facility. This plant used secondary treatment, a new level of technology just beginning to be seen in large cities, but almost unheard of in small communities like ours, with a population of barely 10,000. Motivated by a desire to be a good neighbor and environmental stewards, the City was also…
IWRRI Grant Recipients Work on Sediment Transport Physics
Gianluca Blois, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Idaho’s Boise campus, works at the Center for Ecohydraulics Research (CER) with students to study how water moves through streams and rivers. Their research focuses on how stationary objects, like plants, affect water flow and the movement of sediments. This study used a specialized laboratory flume—a controlled stream environment—to measure water speed and pressure in aquatic systems. While scientists have long studied how landscape features like riverbanks and terrain…
OUR GEM: Taking Public Comments Regarding Wetland Protection Rule Changes
by Sharon Bosley, Executive Director for the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission The Clean Water Act (CWA) was created to protect our water resources by regulating discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States. Its goal is to help ensure all waters are swimmable, fishable and drinkable. The purpose of defining the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) is to determine which waterways are protected under the CWA. The definition determines which waters require permits for activities that…
OUR GEM: Hygiene, it’s not just for people…
Author: Ben Scofield, Coeur d’Alene Tribe Water Resource Specialist In all seriousness watercraft hygiene is an important subject in these days of increasing pressure upon our shared waterways. The Idaho State Department of Agriculture which operates watercraft inspections stations throughout the state recorded about 125,416 inspections in 2025. Each of these watercraft trips represent an opportunity for an aquatic invasive species (AIS) to jump from an infested waterbody to an un-infested one. With the detection of quagga mussel in the…
OUR GEM Ashes in the Current: The Hidden Hydrologic Legacy of the 1910 Fire
By Mark Getscher, hydrogeologist for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe More than a century after “The Big Burn” of 1910 scorched over three million acres across northern Idaho and western Montana, its legacy continues to flow through the streams and rivers of the Coeur d’Alene Basin. While most remember the fire for its devastation and heroism, far fewer realize its silent and lingering impact on water quality. High-intensity wildfires combust vegetation and organic soil layers, converting them into ash. This ash is…
OUR GEM: Restoration Project Turns Back the Clock at Hepton Lake
By Angelo Vitale, Fisheries Division Manager Last year, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe wrapped up construction work on one of its most ambitious projects to date and something that has been in the works for more than a decade. The Snyihms he mulshu’lmkhw (Swimmer’s Landing among the Cottonwoods) Project is located adjacent to the lower St. Joe River a few miles west of St. Maries, Idaho. During the pre-settlement era, the site was a floodplain marsh and wet meadow and was…
