Citizens speak out to protect uses in Kentucky streams

When the Commonwealth of Kentucky announced its plan to re-designate 25 cold water streams as warm water, Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA) took action.

Kentucky has spring-fed and Appalachian headwater streams that are naturally cold. Continued recharge from groundwater keeps some of these streams cold for miles—often their entire length. Reducing the protection of the streams would be especially detrimental to aquatic populations.

“We contacted people who have been swimming or fishing in those streams all their lives,” said Judy Petersen, KWA’s executive director. “We were hoping that stories about cold water-dependent fish, such as trout, would give the state what they needed to maintain the existing protection.”

The public had not been adequately notified of the proposed changes. Citizens were very surprised that the state was going to change the level of protection for their stream. The state did not pursue any changes in the streams where KWA was able to get local people to comment in opposition to the change —14 of the 25 streams! The local people did not bring official data to the public hearings, just their stories of how they have used the streams.

KWA sent comments to EPA and asked them to perform the required scientific reviews (use attainability analyses) for the remaining 11 streams. In the end, EPA only approved nine of the proposed changes to warm water. Three years later, after additional study, one of the cold water streams the state had proposed to change to warm water is now protected as a reference stream for cold water aquatic habitat!

The success of KWA’s efforts to protect the cold water designations for Kentucky’s streams underscores the need to tap local knowledge and to fight for thorough public processes in our efforts to defend protections for existing and designated uses in our waterways.