EPA: Dunkard Creek Algae First Documented Case in Mid-Atlantic
States
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
9 October 2009
By Ben Adducchio
The EPA made this announcement at a water quality forum Friday in
Morgantown where state and federal officials discussed data and
answered questions about the fish kill.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the golden algae bloom,
believed to be responsible for the Dunkard Creek fish kill, is the
first documented case in the Mid-Atlantic states.
More than 50 people crowded into a small room at the Morgantown
Airport, many curious to hear if officials have any new information
about what caused a massive fish kill on Dunkard Creek, a stream in
western Monongalia County.
The discussion focused on the creek’s high amount of total dissolved
solids following the kill, water levels, and the golden algae bloom
that the West Virginia DEP suspects contributed to the kill.
But the DEP is still trying to determine what caused the algae bloom.
Scott Mandirola is the acting director of the division of water and
waste management for the West Virginia DEP.
“I think the important fact is that it’s here,” he said, “we need to
figure out, as fast as we can, how to deal with it, how to control it,
and how to exist with it in some of our water bodies.”
The algae is known to kill aquatic life with gills in streams, and
turtles over a longer period of time. One dead turtle was found at
Dunkard.
State Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer (D-Monongalia) says this has
been a horrible crisis.
“It’s just horrifying to see these pictures look at these numbers of
how many fish have been killed. It’s really sad and it could have been
prevented,” she said.
Local residents want to know when the stream can be remediated, and how
future fish kills can be prevented.
Fleischauer thinks she can help with the prevention aspect.
She plans to reintroduce legislation that would create state
regulations on water withdrawals and standardize the amount of total
dissolved solids in streams in the Monongahela River basin.
“I think we need to get up to speed immediately, because there are
going to be more streams in our state that are going to be devoid of
fish,” she said.
Some have argued West Virginia can come up to speed by changing the
DEP’s compliance schedule with Consol Energy, which operates mines in
the area.
Currently, Consol has until 2013 to meet Clean Water Act standards for
their acid mine discharges.
Scott Mandirola with the DEP had no specifics on whether the compliance
order will be amended.
“We are going to continue with this compliance schedule, how it morphs
one way or another, I couldn’t tell you,” he said.
“If we determine that that is something that needs to be changed, we
will change it accordingly to protect these streams from this algae.”
The DEP is monitoring several other streams in the state with elevated
TDS levels—Paw Paw Creek, Buffalo Creek, and Elk Creek, among others.