Tag: water

Testing Results Show Downward Trend in Water Contamination

It’s been nearly three days since a “do not use” water advisory was issued for more than 300,000 people in the Kanawha Valley, but now officials are saying the end may be in sight.

It took a team of chemists from the National Guard a full day to produce a method testing the amount of crude MCHM in the water at the contaminated treatment facility.  The chemical is used in a coal washing process and leaked into the water supply Thursday morning from a storage tank along the Elk River.

Col. Greg Grant said the amount of chemical present is trending downward with each test, but must be consistently below 1 part per million for a 24 hour period before West Virginia American Water can begin to flush their piping system.

“What we’re looking at is a broad spectrum of data that gives us a composite look at this water over a period of time to make sure it’s safe,” he said at a press conference Saturday night, “and those data points are showing that we are moving in the right direction.”

Grant said his teams would collect more than 100 samples overnight from the treatment plant and throughout the system to increase the data set and give them more accurate information.

“These individual samples are like a puzzle piece. We have a bunch of puzzle pieces, but we don’t have the picture yet,” added West Virginia American Water President Jeff McIntyre.

An outside contractor has been hired to help expedite the testing process of these samples, a process they’ve narrowed down from 46 to 18 minutes.

McIntyre said it will still likely take days to flush the system even if they have the proper data set Sunday, but customers should not start flushing their own plumbing now.

McIntyre warned running your water will deplete the amount they are able to test and compromise the recovery efforts. Customers will be given detailed directions on how to handle the process at the appropriate time.
 

WVAW President: Days Before Water is Returned

Businesses in Charleston may soon be allowed to reopen, but West Virginia American Water customers will still have to wait- maybe as long as days- before the “do not use” advisory is lifted.

Kanawha Charleston Health Department Director Dr. Rahl Gutpa said the county health department will begin reviewing plans from businesses that can show they can safely reopen their doors.

He said they will have to find an alternative source of water to be approved and will go through onsite reviews for safety.

Adjutant General James Hoyer says the National Guard and a team of experts have created a standard methodology for testing water samples.

Friday, Hoyer said water samples were testing at 1.7 parts per million. The Centers for Disease Control says the water is safe for use and consumption at 1 part per million, but West Virginia American Water President Jeff McIntyre said they are not releasing Saturday’s testing sample results- at least not yet.

“We can collect all the samples we want, but the equipment that we run it through is very sophisticated and it takes time to run those samples,” McIntyre said. “So, we have a lot of samples that we’ve collected that we’ve not even had time to run.”

Each sample takes 20 minutes to test.

McIntyre said once his company can assure the water processed in the treatment plant is at the CDC approved level then they can begin flushing their water lines. Giving customers the closest thing to a timeline they’ve received yet, McIntyre said the flushing process will likely take days.

As far as the leak site itself, Mike Dorsey with the state Department of Environmental Protection said approximately 7,500 gallons of Crude MCHM leaked from a one inch hole in a storage tank, but they’re still not sure how the hole got there.

The DEP has set up booms in the river to collect any water that may still be leaching from the shoreline and have dug multiple interceptor trenches to collect any contaminated groundwater.

Credit Ashton Marra
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West Virginia American Water President Jeff McIntyre told members of the media it may take days to flush the entire water distribution system before people can resume using their water.

Dorsey said Freedom Industries- the company responsible for the contamination-is now cooperating fully.

“There’s a great deal more cooperation now than there was early on,” he said. “It’s a serious issue and it’s in everyone’s best interest to communicate well.”

There was a concern about the chemical continuing to move downriver, impacting the drinking water of more than just West Virginia American Water customers, but Dorsey said by the time the chemical reaches the Kanawha River and then eventually the Ohio River, he believes it will be too diluted to impact public health.
 

National Park Service Determines Ajax Spring Unsafe for Consumption, Closes Area

The National Park Service will be closing the Ajax Spring located off of Fayette Station Road after recent mandatory testing indicated the water does not meet the minimum requirements for drinking water.  Despite the fact that the spring is posted as a non-potable water source, there are concerns that residents in the local community use the spring water for household use. 

“Because we are aware the public uses the spring we were required to test it during a recent mandatory audit.  When the test results were reviewed by the National Park Service Public Health Inspector, he recommended closing the spring” said Superintendent Trish Kicklighter. 

The lab results showed high levels of arsenic and mercury and the presence of coliform bacteria.  Turbidity is also a major issue of concern.  The water turbidity and presence of coliform indicate surface water is leaking through rock fissures and cracks contaminating the spring. 

The water source for the Ajax Spring comes from drainage out of the old Ajax mine.  The concrete structure and pipe to access the spring existed prior to the park’s establishment.   After this site became a part of the New River Gorge National River in 1988, park staff maintained access to the spring for the local community. 

“We know local residents use the spring to supply their households with drinking water; however, with the recent test results we cannot in good conscience keep the spring operational”, said Superintendent Kicklighter.  

A Fayette County sanitarian stated that the water system does not meet the minimum standards of the WV 64 CSR 3, Public Water Systems. 

Study: Fracking requires more water than we thought

The Marcellus water resources and water footprint report takes a critical look at water-use data provided by natural gas drillers over the past couple years to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection—data operators are required to provide under the Horizontal Well Control Act of 2011.

The study interprets that data as well as compares it to the data reported in Pennsylvania, where the gas industry is substantially more developed. The president of Morgantown-based environmental firm Downstream Strategies, Evan Hansen, began his explanation by showing an image of what once was a pit where waste fluid from a fractured hydraulic well used to be stored.

“This is a waste pit that’s located in West Virginia and you’ll notice that there’s no waste in it,” Hansen explained. “And that’s because it was recently pumped dry. And that plastic liner is being removed. The reason is that in this case the flowback fluid that was stored there was draining through cracks in the liner directly into the bedrock that underlies this pit and contaminating the drinking water aquifer.”

Hansen went on to explain that ground water monitoring data was collected before, during, and after development of the site. That data confirms pollution levels increased in the drinking water. He says it’s a cautionary tale that underscores the importance of diligent attention to water issues related to oil and gas development.

Wet Footprint

Hansen says there are about 2000 well sites in West Virginia and 9000 in Pennsylvania. He says the average Marcellus well in West Virginia injects about 5 million gallons of water into wells as fracking fluid. One of the key findings in the report is that “the amount of water used per well is higher than previously estimated for Marcellus Shale wells.”

“And by far most of the water comes from surface water—it’s about 81 percent—plus a portion of purchased water. That’s water purchased from local water utilities,” Hansen said.

Hansen found that 8 percent of the 5 million gallons that goes into each well comes back up. 

Flowback

Hansen says the DEP and industry should be applauded for adopting new recycling practices so about 75% of that flowback is now being reused. He says the remainder is disposed of in deep well injections.

“That’s important because every gallon of water that comes from reuse rather than withdrawal is protective of the environment,” Hansen said.

He added that tracking this waste water should continue to be a priority. West Virginia already sees 100-million gallons of waste water each year and PA, across the border where the industry is significantly more developed, sees nearly a billion gallons of waste each year.

Wet Footprint

Hansen’s report also indicates a need to improve data collection and reporting requirements. 

Hansen says one of his biggest concerns is that West Virginia’s state law only requires operators to report flowback water. It’s a different story in Pennsylvania where flowback only accounts for 38% of reported waste.

“In Pennsylvania, all types of waste are reported,” Hansen said. “And not only are all types of waste reported, they are reported every six months. So there’s a good, full accounting of the waste generated from Marcellus operations in Pennsylvania. It’s different in West Virginia.”

Operators in West Virginia are required to submit data once a year, but according to the study, only about a third comply. Moreover, errors in data submissions are common.

“Roughly one third of the data we found to be suspect and so we decided to eliminate it before we crunched our numbers because we wanted to be sure that the data that we used for our analysis was reliable.”

DEP seeks comment on a watershed management plan

The state Department of Environmental Protection is putting together a plan to manage pollutants in a northern West Virginia watershed. This plan will have a key role in the health of the waterways.

The plan is called a Total Maximum Daily Load plan; it establishes limits for how much pollutants can be in streams listed as impaired. These pollutants include: total iron, chlorides, and dissolved aluminum. DEP’s TMDL’s program manager Dave Montali says it takes time to develop plans like this one.

“Universally across our state, we have bacteria; water quality impairment is fairly common. We also have sediment related problems from iron, basically everywhere we monitor. In the Mon watershed, we have some legacy mine drainage issues,” he said.

This particular watershed stretches from the Fairmont area up to the Pennsylvania state line. There are several hundred streams in the watershed. Montali says this particular TMDL plan addresses tributaries of the Monongahela River, but not the mainstem itself.

“Water quality in a watershed, in a community, affects everybody. It affects their health, it affects their economic growth, it affects population,” said Timothy Denicola.

Timothy Denicola works with the Friends of Decker’s Creek. Decker’s Creek is one of the water bodies in the Mon River Watershed. He says TMDL plans play vital roles in the long-term life of an aquatic community.

“The TMDL is the tool or the template by how we maintain healthy aquatic communities. It is the means by which a healthy ecosystem is maintained in a watershed and subwatersheds,” said Denicola.

The agency is now taking public comments on the plan. Public comments are accepted until the 16th. The DEP will submit its final draft proposal on TMDLs to the Environmental Protection Agency, following the end of the public comment period.

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