DEP to Propose New Water Standards on Dissolved Solids
West Virginia regulators plan to propose a new water quality
standard aimed at least in part at protecting state rivers and streams
from pollution created by large-scale natural gas drilling.
Charleston Gazette
19 May 2010
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia regulators plan to propose a new
water quality standard aimed at least in part at protecting state
rivers and streams from pollution created by large-scale natural gas
drilling.
State Department of Environmental Protection officials unveiled their
proposal during a meeting Wednesday in Charleston, and plan to issue it
formally for public comment early next month.
The DEP proposal would set a legal limit for "total dissolved solids,"
or TDS, of 500 milligrams per liter. It would apply in-stream to
waterways statewide, making it more stringent than the existing
standard in Pennsylvania, which applies a 500-milligram-per-liter
standard only at the intake pipes for public drinking water systems.
"This is proactive to keep West Virginia waters suitable for
consumption by our citizens and use by our industries," said Pat
Campbell, an assistant director in the DEP Division of Water and Waste
Management.
DEP officials have been considering the proposal for more than a year
already. Their studies were prompted by TDS problems that brought
complaints about unpleasant odors and tastes in drinking water drawn
from the Monongahela River in the fall of 2008. Then last fall, a
massive fish kill in Dunkard Creek along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania
border was blamed at least in part on TDS pollution.
TDS is made up of various salts -- such as chlorides and sulfates --
that are dissolved in water, and at high enough levels can be dangerous
to aquatic life and can make water used for drinking supplies taste and
smell bad.
High levels of TDS can come from a variety of sources, including
coal-mining discharges. But environmentalists have become increasing
concerned about TDS from the disposal of fluids from large-scale oil
and gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation.
DEP also announced it plans to propose a weakening of the state's legal
limit for iron in trout streams, from 0.5 parts per million to 1.0
parts per million.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently recommends that 1.0
number, and DEP officials said they haven't found any other states with
a number as stringent as West Virginia's current standard.
"We're kind of sticking out on a ledge and we've had some issues with
it," said Dave Montali, who runs the DEP's stream cleanup program.
Montali said agency officials have had problems devising plans for
trout streams to meet the state's current limit of 0.5 parts per
million. A 30-year-old state study found that trout can survive iron
levels as high as 1.37 parts per million, he said.
The standard is meant to protect trout from long-term exposure to iron,
and is measured on a four-day average, with the average not to be
exceeded more than once every three years.
DEP also plans to propose new standards aimed at controlling algae
blooms in parts of the Greenbrier River where pollution from municipal
sewage treatment plants have impaired recreational uses of the river,
officials said.
The DEP proposals will all be subject to a 45-day public comment
period. Agency officials hope to submit them for consideration by
lawmakers during the 2011 legislative session. They must also receive
EPA approval before taking effect.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.