W.Va. Probes Fish Kill

Washington PA Observer Reporter
13 July 2010
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com

West Virginia environmental officials are investigating the cause of a fish kill that occurred this month on a tributary of Dunkard Creek near Wadestown, W.Va.

Between 6,000 and 7,000 minnows and darters were found dead along a one-mile section of the North Fork of the West Virginia Fork of Dunkard Creek on July 1, said district biologist Frank Jernejcic of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.

Jernejcic said the cause of the fish kill is unknown but it did not appear to be related to mining or natural gas production. He noted no mining or well drilling is taking place in the immediate vicinity of the stream in that area.

Jernejcic said it appears someone must have dumped a harmful chemical into the stream.

The cause of the fish kill is being investigated by West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco said her agency agrees the cause does not appear to be related to mining or gas drilling activities because neither of those activities is being conducted in the immediate area.

"We don't think it's related at all to what happened last summer," she said. It does appear that "some type of chemical slug" came through and the only evidence is the fish kill itself, she said.

DEP has water monitors in the area, and when the results are available in about a week "it may give us a clue," Cosco said.

Only minnows and darters were affected by the kill, which covered one mile of stream starting on Camp Run and continuing downstream on the North Fork to the confluence of the South Fork near Wadestown.

Crayfish and mussels were not affected by the kill, Jernejcic said. Fish were alive in the streams both upstream and downstream from the affected area.

Jernejcic said the North Fork is relatively small and is about 10 to 20 feet wide. The person who reported the kill said the fish were alive in the late afternoon on June 30 but then had died by the next morning on July 1, he said.

Last September, a fish kill on Dunkard Creek wiped out almost all fish, mussels and salamanders along a 43-mile section of the stream.

Toxins created by a bloom of golden algae were identified by state and federal environmental agencies as the cause of the kill.

The agencies also agreed that what created the conditions for the algae to thrive were very high levels of total dissolved solids in the stream from mine water discharges.