Mon Watersheds Concerned About TDS
Morgantown Dominion Post - 17 February 2011
By Alex Lang
Members of the Monongahela Area Watersheds Compact gathered for a
meeting and lamented the state Legislature’s removal of some aspects of
the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposal for local
waterways.
Among the provisions removed by the Senate Natural Resources Committee
was a limit on the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) in waterways
and water withdrawal regulations.
“I think it’s a tragedy,” said Amanda Pitzer, executive director of
Friends of the Cheat. The compact is a collective of various local
water and environmental groups.
She said she thinks some legislators hear the phrase TDS and
immediately connect it to Dunkard Creek and think it was a one-time
incident. But TDS can affect any stream and cause changes in the taste
and smell of water.
A high TDS level was one of the factors that led to a fish kill that
wiped out most marine life in Dunkard Creek in 2009.
Pitzer said she is still hopeful that the legislature will consider
some type of TDS restriction. Evan Hansen, president of Downstream
Strategies, provided the compact a presentation about current federal
acts that help regulate water quality.
There is the Clean Water Act, which regulates surface water. There are
federal recommendations for items such as TDS, but states set their own
standards. There is also the Safe Drinking Water Act. This is for tap
water and includes federal standards. There are secondary standards for
TDS, but they are not enforceable, Hansen said.
The Safe Drinking Water Act isn’t used to determine how much pollution
is in the Monongahela River, Hansen said.
“Safe Drinking Water Acts standards, they apply at the tap and not at
the stream,” Hansen said.
Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency
recommends 250 mg/L for TDS. But many states go higher. Pennsylvania,
for example, has a 500 mg/L average for its streams. West Virginia has
no enforceable criteria for TDS, Hansen said.
Duane Nichols, who is part of the compact, said he believes the Senate
Judiciary Committee will reinstate the TDS and water withdrawal
provisions.
He said he was surprised when the Natural Resources Committee removed
the provisions.
Nichols said he will represent the compact during public hearings in
the legislatures over two bills that deal with Marcellus shale
hydro-fracking. “Fracking“is the term used to describe the process of
fracturing rock to release natural gas.