DEP Developing TMDLs for some Mon Tributaries
Morgantown Dominion Post
8 June 2009
Submitted to The Dominion Post
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will begin the
process of developing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) for a number of
Monongahela River tributary waters.
Streams of interest are between the confluence of the West Fork and
Tygart rivers and the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border.
For 12 months, beginning July 1, the agency will gather in-stream water
quality data.
Planned efforts include the sampling of 159 sites on 109 streams to
monitor iron, aluminum, manganese, total suspended solids, fecal
coliform, total dissolved solids and constitute ions of total dissolved
solids.
Biological assessments will be performed at many locations. Information
gathered through this process will guide the development of TMDLs.
A public meeting will be scheduled in the near future to present
sampling plans and to provide an introduction to the TMDL development
process.
The agency originally proposed to also pursue TMDL development in
specific areas of the Little Kanawha watershed, but resource
constraints do rot allow the work to be accomplished at this time.
The areas of study originally proposed will be addressed in a Little
Kanawha River watershed effort at the next opportunity for the
Hydrologic Group D Watershed Management Framework cycle.