Can pollution-plagued Portneuf make comeback?

The Portneuf River has long been viewed as a symbol of urban decay, but now some hope it will get a new lease on life.

Martin Ventura, who works at ISU’s Stream Ecology Lab and lives near the Portneuf River, said he fishes in the river often.

“Every time I catch a trout … it really fills me up with a little surge of hope,” said Ventura.

But Ventura is quick to admit that life along the Portneuf is far from ideal.

“It’s a badly degraded river and it needs a lot of attention,” said Ventura.

While a newly released ISU survey shows 68 percent of respondents consider the river a blight on Pocatello, 95 percent of those surveyed say they’d like to see it transformed.

“It’s been neglected for a long time,” said Heather Sanger, environmental coordinator for the city of Pocatello. “If you ever come down to the river on rainy day, you’ll notice that the water going into the river is brown.”

The city has already implemented a number of policies to prevent polluted runoff from entering the river.

“When people build new houses, you’ll see silt fences up to try and limit the amount of sediment that gets to the river,” said Sanger.

State environmental regulators say it appears to be paying off as the river’s pollution levels decrease.

“If you look at the levels of pollution over the last 30 years in the Portneuf, we’re in certainly a better state,” said Lynn Van Every, regional water quality manager with the Department of Environmental Quality’s Pocatello office.

Residents remain optimistic.

“I think as long as there’s still water in it, we have hope,” said Ventura.

The ISU survey is based on responses from 90 people, including governmental officials, members of environmental groups and business owners.