DEP, DNR Worried Dunkard Fish Kill Could Spread

Charleston Gazette
16 October 2009
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State regulators are concerned that excess pollution may cause a toxic algae that killed off fish in a 30-mile stretch of Dunkard Creek in Northern West Virginia to spread to more than a dozen other waterways, lawmakers heard Thursday.

Department of Environmental Protection officials don't think they can eradicate the "golden algae" and instead are weighing ways to reduce contaminants that fostered the devastating fish kill in Monongalia County.

"We can't ignore it," said Scott Mandirola, director of DEP's Division of Water and Waste Management. "If we ignore it, we may see an event like this again."

Mandirola and Frank Jernejcic, a fisheries biologist at the state Division of Natural Resources, briefed a legislative interim committee Thursday morning on last month's fish kill, which left Dunkard Creek mostly lifeless.

Jernejcic said the fish kill wiped out 99 percent of the fish in the West Virginia portion of Dunkard Creek, which runs along the Pennsylvania border. Also, it eliminated the creek's "very impressive mussel population," the major stronghold for mussels in the Monongahela River basin, Jernejcic said.

Jernejcic explained that many of the creek's larger fish -- including muskies and smallmouth bass -- appeared to have tried to escape the algae by swimming into tiny tributaries. Many of them died when they swam back out into the main creek or starved in the tributaries, Jernejcic said.

DEP and DNR officials in West Virginia have blamed the fish kill directly on the golden algae, but have conceded that high levels of pollution tied to several CONSOL Energy mine discharges made conditions nearly perfect for the algae to spread.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials have pointed specifically to the discharge from the pools of polluted underground water at CONSOL's Blacksville No. 1 and No. 2 mines. Those are among two large pools of underground water in the region, where CONSOL has allowed older abandoned mines to fill with water as it pumps water out of active operations to allow miningto continue.

Asked after the legislative meeting about the Pennsylvania conclusions, Mandirola said he does not disagree with them.

Mandirola said high levels of total suspended solids, including salts such as chlorides and sulfates, helped foster the algae growth.

Regulators often measure these materials by testing a stream's conductivity, or ionic strength, which is the ability of the water to conduct an electric charge.

Water quality officials aren't sure how the golden algae -- which is normally not found in this part of the United States -- was transported into Dunkard Creek. It could have been brought in by waterfowl, on anglers' boots or in any number of other ways, officials said.

During Thursday's meeting, Mandirola showed lawmakers a chart listing at least 18 other streams across West Virginia that have similar pollution problems. The list included the North Branch of the Potomac River, the Mud River and the Little Coal River.

"Those are all now of concern because of this threat," Mandirola said. DEP plans to test those streams to see if they contain low levels of golden algae that are not yet toxic, Mandirola said.

DEP officials are also considering speeding up a timetable for writing the state's first water quality standard for total suspended solids, or TDS. And, Mandirola said, the agency needs to re-examine its general policy so far of not writing pollution reduction plans for streams with high levels of conductivity.

Duane Nichols, a chemical engineer and spokesman for the Upper Monongahela River Association, said the state should have seen Dunkard Creek coming and now needs to take steps to avoid a repeat of the fish kill.

"What we saw as a crisis became a disaster," Nichols said. "We have a catastrophe on our hands up in Northern West Virginia. If we had done this earlier, we wouldn't have this problem."