Data Released from Dunkard Creek Fish Kill

Several agencies shared their information on the stream's recent changes.

WBOY-TV, Clarksburg, WV
9 October 2009
By Stacy Moniot

(MORGANTOWN) -- Scientists say they're closer to discovering what caused the algae bloom in Dunkard Creek which investigators believe killed all of the stream's marine life. Friday's meeting was held for all of the agencies involved to share the data they have been able to collect on the fish-kill.

The group had to first agree on a set of facts, ranging from the scope of the damage to potential sources of contamination. The agencies represented included the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Pennsylvania DEP.

"We're a long way," says Patrick Campbell with the W.Va. D.E.P. Water & Waste Management Division. "A month ago, Sept. 11th. we were in this room and we didn't know. We were confused."

That was their last meeting. The dead fish were reported in the first days of September.

Since then, preliminary tests point to golden algae and the toxins it releases as the cause of the fish and mussel kill in Dunkard Creek.

The algae is the first of its kind to appear in the entire Mid-Atlantic Region. It's usually only found in brakish coastal waters, but it bloomed in Dunkard Creek after a recent dramatic change in the water's chemistry. Higher levels of chloride, and much higher levels of sodium were found during the fish kill.

"There's speculation about gas drilling and the associated waste disposal from the gas industry," Campbell says. "There's speculation about mining, as mining continues, are we generating more and more waste water."

Consol Energy's Blacksville #2 mine sits along the creek, and many have speculated that discharge from that mine created the chemical conditions that allowed the algae to grow.

"We have our own experts that are looking into this," says Joe Cerenzia, with Consol Energy's public relations, "and we're sharing that data freely with the other agencies that are involved."

Consol stopped draining into the creek, and that has helped return some chemicals in Dunkard Creek to more normal levels. There's evidence of contamination upstream from the mine as well.

Scientists say there's no immediate way to get rid of the algae once it has bloomed. The use of algaecides would kill any naturally living and beneficial aglae already in the stream.

"We have got to come up with better water quality conditions to make this less favorable to the algae and let the native algae out-compete it," Campbell says.

And now that the algae is in the water system, it could spread.

"There's almost two dozen additional streams within West Virginia that have elevated conductivities that would be conducive for this algae to bloom," says Frank Borsuk, a biologist with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, "and the implications are that the aquatic life within those streams could be impaired."

Or they could be wiped out, as in Dunkard Creek. The stream was one of the last havens for mussels in the state, and the home of more than 18 species of fish that have been wiped out of the creek.

Scientists are uncertain whether the algae was always present in the stream system, and the chemical changes spurred its growth, or if the algae was introduced into the creek in another way. In order to prevent another ecological disaster, the group also started a discussion on long-term solutions that would take a comprehensive approach to the whole Monongahela River basin.

"If we want to have good continued industrial development, if we want to have recreation, and we want to have good quality water," says Barry Pallay of the Upper Mon River Association, " we are going to have to have a total system being managed."

Pallay chaired Friday's meeting, and had to continually remind speakers and presenters to be brief. There were detailed scientific presentations from several agencies, with comments from community groups, and Consol Energy.

"The more people that are engaged, the more likely something is to happen," says Betty Wiley, head of the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association.

All of the agencies will continue collecting data and compare notes at next month's meeting of the Upper Mon River Association. By then, scientists estimate much of the complex laboratory will be completed and a clearer picture of the fish kill will emerge.

Until then, the golden algae will remain the sole occupant of Dunkard Creek. The state DNR officials say they will not restock the stream until the cause, and a solution, are found.