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THOMPSON FALLS - Cherry Creek runs into Thompson Falls Reservoir next to Jon Sonju's property here, and this year, he says, the delta that was built during spring runoff extended 20 feet farther and was four feet higher than he's ever seen.

“And I had two to three feet of sediment I've never had before that obliterated my old beach,” he says.

With much of that sediment apparently coming from the largest Superfund complex in the nation, located upstream where Milltown Dam was breached - and levels of arsenic, lead, zinc and copper in the sediment testing far beyond what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency predicted in its worst-case scenario - Sonju and others want answers.

Is the water in the reservoir safe?

Is the water in their wells?

The problem is, they're getting conflicting answers.

The EPA and Montana Department of Environmental Quality say the levels of the hazardous materials, while higher than anticipated, still pose no threat to human health or the environment.

“Some sediment tested slightly higher than the models predicted it would, but not at levels where people need to be concerned,” says Keith Large, the Milltown project manager at DEQ. “We've already met with the Missoula County commissioners and once we laid everything out, showed them all the numbers and presented all the data, they understood there was no reason for concern.”

A similar meeting with Sanders County commissioners and other officials will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15, in Thompson Falls. The morning meeting, which will also be open to the public, will be followed by a public meeting that evening to address residents' concerns.

Some times and locations have yet to be finalized, but people who attend will no doubt want to know about research data from University of Montana scientists, the U.S. Geological Survey and PPL Montana, which owns the Thompson Falls Dam that is trapping much of the sediment in Thompson Falls Reservoir.

They've read the quote in the Missoulian from geochemist Johnnie Moore, director of UM's Center for Riverine Science and Stream Renaturalization. After noting that testing on toxicity levels in the downstream metals hadn't been completed, Moore added, “I'd be cautious because these are potentially very toxic concentrations we're seeing.”

They've seen the story in the Clark Fork Valley Press, which reported that UM geomorphologist Andrew Wilcox recommended parents not allow young children to come in contact with the water in the Clark Fork River.

The same story said John Cuthbertson of the Montana Environmental Laboratory in Kalispell advised people in the area, especially those closest to the river and reservoir, to test their wells.

“The ones that worry me are the ones that say, ‘It tastes good, it looks good, it smells good and I'm not going to worry about it' - but your kid could get cancer a few years later because of it,” he told reporter Jason Shueh.

Cuthbertson added, “The government not only doesn't have any responsibility (for private wells), they don't even care unless you're serving the general public, like at a bar or a restaurant.”

DEQ's Large complains that the UM scientists are only looking at one small piece of the puzzle.

“They presented preliminary data - and I mean preliminary,” Large says. “Those professors have not produced any kind of report. They're looking at fine-grain sediments instead of all sediments. Those university professors need to step forward with written data instead of just showing bits and pieces. Once you look at the big picture and consider all the data, it's a much different picture then. We're not seeing any big problem.”

PPL Montana disagrees, and wants the EPA to adjust its modeling and restoration designs.

In a letter to the agency from Kevin Murray, an attorney with the Salt Lake City law firm of Chapman and Cutler, PPLM said “EPA's predictions and assurances are clearly mistaken” and the agency “can no longer ignore the overwhelming evidence of uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances and associated significant downstream impacts far beyond anything the agency predicted.”

Levels of arsenic increased twelvefold after Milltown Dam was breached last spring, the letter said, while copper increased five times and zinc and lead levels multiplied by four times.

“PPLM recognizes that it is too late for the EPA to revisit modeling and design decisions concerning the remedial action at the Milltown site,” the letter says. “However, PPLM renews its now voluminous comments expressing significant concerns about the downstream impacts from the Clark Fork River restoration project.”

Unlike the remedial action plan, the letter continues, the Clark Fork natural resource damage restoration project “includes virtually no controls to prevent erosion of the millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediments in the channel and floodplain above Duck Bridge.”

“Our primary concern is public health downstream in Thompson Falls and other communities along the way,” Mark Lambrecht, manager of regulatory affairs for PPLM, told the Missoulian. “EPA is claiming the levels of contaminates is well within the limits of public safety, but we have a responsibility to look at why they were so much higher than anticipated.”

Large says he believes PPL Montana is covering its bases, liabilitywise, because of other issues with the reservoir and dam.

“The reservoir has been naturally filling up with clean sediment from the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Flathead rivers for years,” he says. “Five or six years ago, they came to us and indicated there could be a problem in 25 years, that it could turn into a running river instead of a reservoir.

“It is filling up with sediment, you can see that, but a very small percentage comes from the Milltown Dam cleanup.”

Thompson Falls Mayor Louis LaRock says he's surprised at the lack of larger outcry about the reports that arsenic levels in the reservoir have increased twelvefold.

“If a mining company had done this, they'd be screaming to the rafters,” LaRock says. “But I guess because it's the EPA, everyone thinks it must be OK.”

People in Thompson Falls are concerned, he adds.

“Absolutely,” LaRock says. “There are wells all along the reservoir that don't meet arsenic levels now. If you dump more in, it's only going to get worse.”

Fish in the reservoir have not been affected, according to Jon Hanson, a fisheries biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

“Within the reservoir, we don't have a lot of concerns,” Hanson says. “The metals coming down are locked up in the sediment. We're not seeing anything in the fish. We haven't seen any problem with that from Milltown.”

Sonju, the property owner who is also trained as a geologist, says he was working near the dam and watched oddly colored water escape over the top during spring runoff.

“It was this dark, pea-green color,” he says. “If that means heavy metals were coming over the dam, it could affect Noxon Reservoir, Cabinet Gorge Reservoir and even Lake Pend Oreille” in north Idaho.

“Certainly we're watching the situation,” says June Bergquist, regional water quality compliance officer with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

But contaminated sediment, she adds, is a completely different issue from metals suspended in the water.

“That's most likely the type of contamination Idaho would see, and what our standards address,” Bergquist says. “But Thompson Falls and Noxon (and Cabinet Gorge) reservoirs sit between us and Milltown, and chances are the sediment would be deposited and stored in those reservoirs and not make it to the Idaho line.”

Which makes it a more immediate concern for Montana residents, especially those on Thompson Falls Reservoir, where most of the sediment seems to be piling up.

Those will be the people Large and Russ Forba, the EPA's Milltown project manager (who was on vacation last week and so was unavailable for comment), will have to convince.

They may have their work cut out for them. Said Sonju, “How many more times worse is it than their worst-case scenario said it would be?”

“I don't want to insult anyone,” he went on, “but common sense tells you they've already been proven wrong.”

Reach reporter Vince Devlin at 1-800-366-7186 or by e-mail at vdevlin@missoulian.com.

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