Op-Ed Commentaries: Duane G. Nichols: Whom does DEP serve?
Charleston Gazzette
28 December 2009
The West Virginia Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water
Resources met on Oct. 15 to examine the fish kill in Dunkard Creek.
Presentations were made by Scott Mandirola of the state Department of
Environmental
Protection, Frank Jernejcic of the Division of Natural Resources and
me, on behalf of the Upper Monongahela River Association.
The Upper Mon River Association has conducted 12 monthly Water Quality
Forums at the Morgantown Airport in Monongalia County since November
2008. The primary impetus was originally the high total dissolved
solids (TDS)
and low flows in the Monongahela River most noticeable in August 2008.
Since that time, problems of high TDS have continued in the Mon River
and in a number of
its tributaries. West Virginia, Pennsylvania and federal
representatives have participated in these forums on a regular basis.
Strong sentiment has been expressed
over the problems of TDS and other ions in the streams of our state.
On Nov. 12, a joint meeting involving the West Virginia Sierra Club and
the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association was held at West Virginia
University. More than 60 people attended who support limits on TDS in
the local streams, the
regulation of water withdraws for whatever purpose, and the strict
enforcement of water quality and stream maintenance regulations.
On Dec. 3, the Water Quality Forum at Mount Morris in
Pennsylvania involved more than 200 people meeting specifically on
Dunkard Creek. Here it was clearly revealed that urgent action is
needed to protect this and the other
streams of the region, to limit water withdraws, and to enforce the
state and federal regulation of all these streams. The lack of adequate
legal protection, the lack of
adequate enforcement of existing regulations, and the lack of adequate
plans for the immediate future were quite evident.
It was shocking to learn that the West Virginia DEP has no plans for
any action as a result of this huge kill of aquatic life.
The need now exists to establish water quality standards for all
the state's streams, given that the recent fish kill on Dunkard Creek
was so devastating. This was initially a crisis situation that became a
disaster. Approximately
22,000 fish, plus 14 species of mussels, and other creatures are dead
and no one knows how to regenerate the stream. The conditions on
Dunkard Creek could be
repeated on more than 20 other streams throughout West Virginia. A
water quality standard of 500 parts per million, for example, would
meet national drinking water
standards, and this may be sufficiently low as to remove threats of a
golden algae bloom, according to the information currently available.
Some of us believe
that 250 ppm would be more realistic, to provide adequate protection
for aquatic life and for household uses of the water year round.
The West Virginia DEP Web site has been inadequate as a response to the
problems of high TDS and the golden algae. Most of the postings that
have been provided were undated, so the public could not readily
determine the
significance of a given posting. Also, not much of the actual data has
been posted; some data has been posted but it has not been easy to find
and has always been
late in appearing. Further, DEP has been meeting with representatives
of the polluters on a regular basis, but has not once called in members
of the public who are
directly affected or members of the environmental groups who know about
and care about these problems.
Thus, there is a big question as to "who" the DEP is really serving.
The importance of the Monongahela River cannot be overemphasized, given
its substantial role for public water supplies, industrial water
supplies and recreational activities. The high TDS values experienced
by the Morgantown Utility
Board during the past two summers results in problems for each
household with foul taste, hard water for washing activities, and the
clogging of valves and
pipes. The problems of TDS in the cooling water of the numerous power
plants results in violations of air emission permits for cooling towers
as well as the accumulation
of salt solids within evaporative cooling towers.
It is now time, finally, to do something. Something must be done about
these problems. The DEP has been studying these problem long enough. On
behalf of the citizens of West Virginia, on behalf of all the water
users of our
state, I call upon the state DEP to immediately develop a slate of
solutions to the problems at hand, rank these options and publish them.
Then, the public, the Legislature and the governor can work to adopt a
set of solutions that will represent our best effort to recover from
these problems in our rivers and other streams.
Nichols, of Morgantown, is a chemical engineer and president of the
Cheat Lake Environment & Recreation Association.