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.