Open Letter To WV-DEP
WV Department of Environmental Protection
Charleston, West Virginia

 

RE: Dunkard Creek and the Monongahela River.    Date:  December 8, 2009

 

The West Virginia Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources met on Thursday, October 15 to examine the fish kill in Dunkard Creek. The meeting took place at the State Capitol, and was open to the public. Presentations were made by Scott Mandirola, WV-DEP, Frank Jernejcic, WV-DNR. and this writer (Duane Nichols) on behalf of the Upper Monongahela River Association  (UMRA).

 

The Upper Mon River Association has conducted 12 monthly Water Quality Forums at the Morgantown Airport in Monongalia County since November of 2008. The primary impetus was originally the high TDS and low flows in the Monongahela River most noticeable in August of 2008. Since that time, problems of high TDS have continued in the Mon River and in a number of its tributaries. WV and Pennsylvania state and federal representatives have participated in these Forums on a regular basis.  Strong sentiment has been expressed over the problems of TDS and other ions in the streams of our State.

 

On November 12th, a joint meeting involving the WV Sierra Club and the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association was held at West Virginia University.  Over 60 people attended who support limits on TDS in the local streams,  the regulation of water withdraws for whatever purpose, and the strict enforcement of water quality and stream maintenance regulations.

 

On December 3rd, the Water Quality Forum at Mt. Morris in Pennsylvania involved over 200 people meeting specifically on Dunkard Creek.  Here it was clearly revealed that urgent action is needed to protect this and the other streams of the region, to limit water withdraws, and to enforce the state and federal regulation of all these streams.  The lack of adequate legal protection, the lack of adequate enforcement of existing regulations, and the lack of adequate plans for the immediate future were quite evident. It was shocking to learn that the WV-DEP has no plans for any action as a result of this huge kill of aquatic life. 

 

The need now exists to establish water quality standards for all the streams of WV, given that the recent fish kill on Dunkard Creek was so devastating. This was initially a crisis situation that became a disaster. Approximately 22,000 fish, plus 14 species of mussels, and other creatures are dead and no one knows how to regenerate the stream. The conditions on Dunkard Creek could be repeated on more than 20 other streams throughout West Virginia. A water quality standard of 500 parts per million, for example, would meet national drinking water standards, and this may be sufficiently low as to remove threats of a golden algae bloom, according to the information currently available. Some of us believe that 250 ppm would be more realistic, to provide adequate protection for aquatic life and for household uses of the water year round.

 

The WV-DEP web-site has been inadequate as a response to the problems of high TDS and the golden algae.  Most of the postings that have been provided were undated, so the public could not readily determine the significance of a given posting.  Also, not much of the actual data has been posted; some data has been posted but it has not been easy to find and has always been late in appearing. Further, WV-DEP has been meeting with representatives of the polluters on a regular basis, but has not once called in members of the public who are directly affected or members of the environmental groups who know about and care about these problems.  Thus, there is a big question as to “who” the WV-DEP is really serving in this and other issues before the State.
 
The importance of the Monongahela River cannot be overemphasized, given its substantial role for public water supplies, industrial water supplies and recreational activities. The high TDS values experienced by the Morgantown Utility Board during the past two summers results in problems for each household with foul taste, hard water for washing activities, and the clogging of values and pipes. The problems of TDS in the cooling water of the numerous power plants results in violations of air emission permits for cooling towers as well as the accumulation of salt solids within evaporative cooling towers.

 

It is now time, now finally is the time to do something. Something must be done about these problems. The WV-DEP has been studying these problem long enough. On behalf of the citizens of West Virginia, on behalf of all the water users of our State, I call upon the WV-DEP to immediately develop a slate of solutions to the problems at hand, rank these options and publish them.  Then, the public, the Legislature and the Governor can work to adopt a set of solutions that will represent our best effort to recover from these problems in our rivers and other streams.

 

Sincerely submitted,

 

 

Duane G. Nichols, Ph.D. Chemical Engineer
President, Cheat Lake Environment & Recreation Association
330 Dream Catcher Circle
Morgantown, WV 26508