Severe Pollution and WVDEP Failures
Saturday evening 8/15, a report was made to a representative of the Friends of Blackwater Canyon (myself) of severe silting of Beaver Creek. It was reported that the silt was emanating from impoundment #14 on the corridor “H” construction site. It’s believed that rain runoff caused the impoundment to breach. A complaint was made to the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP.) As sundown had arrived and my device to measure silt needs sunlight, action was deferred until sunrise the next day.
Early Sunday morning, tests in Davis confirmed that the pollution was severe. A Secchi disc contained in a turbidity tube only became visible with a water level of 50 centimeters (approx. 2”.) This indicated a Reading of over 240 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity
Units.) A measurement taken of the Blackwater River in Davis was 100 NTU because the black and white Secchi became invisible when covered with approximately 4 1/2” of water. This is considered severe pollution. NTU is a scale used to reveal the clarity of water. The higher the NTU measurement, the dirtier the water.
Monday morning Mary Sanders of the WVDEP was on the corridor “H” site investigating the incident. An official report is expected to be issued. This would be at least the fourth official report of pollution from the site. The reports catalog dozens of violations. Fines have been issued. These are being paid by taxpayers (via WVDOT) and not by the contractor doing the work.
Inquiries revealed that the pollution had started at least by Saturday morning (perhaps as early as Friday afternoon.) By Mondaay morning the clarity of the water had improved but was still elevated above normal levels at 19 NTU. You could describe this as “cloudy” looking water.
The normal reading of Beaver and Blackwater is about 5 NTU ( approx 2’ 9”.) The natural color is caused mostly by tannin, There are also small amounts of plant material and silt that contribute. Tannin colors some of our waters and this is reflected in the names Red Creek, Yellow Creek and Blackwater.
Beaver Creek, once a poisoned stream now has fish in it. The capture of bass and chubs by an angler who volunteered to check, has established this Unproven reports of native trout in the upper reaches have been made. If this is true (I have my doubts) it would be an historic milestone in local history. I invite anglers to try their luck to prove it. The silt has filled in the rock bottom of Beaver and the Blackwater. I’m told a favorite swimming hole on Beaver has been completely filled in. Shifting islands of silt have been noticed as the pollution moves down the Blackwater River. Trout anglers have abandoned Blackwater from Beaver down. A planned future effort to stock Beaver with trout is in jeopardy.
WVDEP is fining WVDOT (taxpayers) for the violations even though WVDEP knows WVDOT is unable to police pollution caused by the construction. Lack of accountability has enabled the pollution to continue. There’s the question whether contingency funds that were going to be used to restore Beaver Creek are being drained by fines.
Personally I have taken action only after someone has complained because no one gets punished except taxpayers. This policy guarantees that pollution goes unreported.
Allegations are being made that political appointees and upper management of the agencies involved have facilitated an arrangement to circumvent the law and make taxpayers liable for the consequences.
Tucker County citizens loose tourism dollars from degraded fishing waters. Allegations are also made that upper tier managers of these agencies have colluded to defeat their own internal compliance standards. A call for a legal audit of these “arrangements” made by the WVDEP and WVDOTwas ignored.
The Tucker County Commission has placed this issue on the agenda for the meeting on the 26th.
Disclaimer: Author works for a local watershed group and came out “in favor” of the corridor “H” project during the public comment period.
Note: As I write this, on Thursday I received notice that another release of silt has again severely polluted our streams. Clearly WVDEP is shirking it’s responsibility to protect our environment.
Walter Marshall
Davis, WV