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W.Va. Water Trails: A New Pride In The Tug Fork River

The Tug Fork River recently earned the designation of a West Virginia Water Trail by the Recreation Trail Advisory Committee within the West Virginia Department of Transportation. It’s called the Bloody Mingo Tug Fork Water Trail and visitors are invited to kayak, float or even fish. The “Mighty Tug,” as it’s been called, flows along Mingo County by towns such as Matewan and Williamson.

This is the second of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.

Tugging Tires on the Tug Fork

It’s a warm summer day, and a crew of volunteers are on the Tug Fork River. Some, John Burchett, are pulling up tires from the bottom of the river and loading them onto a boat connected to an amphibious vehicle.

John Burchett pulls a tire from the Tug Fork River.

“A lot of these tires have white walls on them,” Burchett said. “You don’t see anybody driving around with white walls today. That’s back in at least the ‘80s. Some of these tires have half the sidewall as a white wall. That’s going back to the ‘40s and ‘50s. So these are really old tires.”

How the tires got into the river is kind of a mystery, or at least a known secret.

“Back in the day before there was regulation, we think before there was really any enforcement of what little regulation there was, the small gas stations, service stations, sold ya some tires and then took your old ones out and threw them in a river,” Burchett said. “They either didn’t know any better or maybe just didn’t care enough. I don’t know which it is. But yeah, it’s a shame that the sins of our grandfathers that’s what we’re cleaning up today.”

Tug Fork River by Williamson, W.Va. in 2021

Tire clean up isn’t easy. It’s intense physical labor that takes extensive collaboration between state agencies and volunteers. Along with volunteers, both the Kentucky and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection are working together. The Tug Fork borders both states.
It’s taken thousands of “mighty tugs” to pull more than 5,000 tires out of the water so far. There’s even an annual volunteer event called Tire Tug of War on the Tug Fork.

After tires are loaded onto boats, the are hooked to an amphibious vehicle and pulled to shore.

“It’s a mess, but we’re putting a dent in it,” Burchett said. “There’s still thousands of tires in this river. Several thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of tires in this river.”

Burchett and other volunteers are hoping the work will continue to pay off, not just for the health of the river, but for the economic future of the region.

Things Have Changed

Burchett grew up in Williamson in Mingo County. It’s one of the towns along the Tug Fork River. He remembers the boom times of the coal industry.

“We had a business district that was overflowing with business, with people, it was a struggle to get down the sidewalks,” he said. “Today the coal industry has dropped off tremendously. Our downtown is suffering. We have empty storefronts and not a lot of people on the streets.”

As the jobs disappeared, the population declined and schools consolidated. Burchett says the town lost more than an income.

“The Williamson Wolfpack played in the State Basketball Championships on a regular basis,” he said. “We lost a big part of our identity when we lost Williamson High school.”

Williamson standout ball player Mark Cline has possession of the ball during the 1981 Sectional Championship game at the Logan Fieldhouse. WHS won 61-58 and defeated Logan 3 times that season.

One part of this area’s identity that wasn’t lost was its history. In particular, the infamous Hatfield and McCoy feud.

The Williamson Wolfpack defeated Northfork, 66-60 at the Charleston Civic Center to win the 1983 state championship.

“The feud is over, but we still enjoy the history of it,” Burchett said.

In recent years, that history has helped to draw tourists to the Hatfield and McCoy ATV trail system. Burchett is hoping to expand what he calls the “outdoor adventure amusement park” with the Tug Fork River.

“You can spend a day on the trails and then spend a day in the water,” Burchett said. “It keeps our tourists here for an extra day, maybe. It gives them something to do. Gives them another reason to come. Maybe they come to the river and then discover the trail system and want to go ride the trails.”

In Matewan, W.Va., it’s common to see ATVs and riders lining downtown during riding season.

Work on the Tug Fork Must Keep Going

Volunteers like Burchett still have a lot of work to do. There are still thousands of tires to pull from the river.

The Tug Fork also remains on the latest West Virginia list of impaired waters.

“The entire length of the Tug Fork that touches West Virginia is impaired for fecal coliform,” Grace Williams, executive director of the Big Laurel Learning Center in Kermit said. “So usually you’re getting that from sewage runoff or impaired septic systems.”

Williams is also part of a group that will be trained in both Kentucky and West Virginia to test and monitor the water quality.

“I think it will be really key for our own knowledge,” she said. “I’ve kayaked the Tug Fork. I’ve kayaked the Guyandotte. So, I hope that by doing this I’ll learn first hand the results that we get.”

Grace Williams at the 2022 Southern WV Fishing Expo in Williamson, W.Va.

The idea is to test the tributaries of the Tug to see which streams need the most help. The samples will be taken to a lab to be tested for e coli, fecal coliform, and heavy metals.

“Then we know that it’s gonna be repairing septic systems and repairing sewage lines,” Williams said. “That’s going to be the hard part is getting funding for that and getting people to do it. A lot of times land is hard to put in a septic tank if you’re really close to the river.”

Williams and the Friends of the Tug Fork River already have a plan. They are creating a watershed group. The group recently hosted a boarding to gather information. They plan to apply for 501c3 status.

Pete Runyon works with volunteers and state employees to pull tires from the Tug Fork River.

“The idea is once we are a non-profit we will better be able to get grants,” Williams said. “I know that there is a lot of money that we hope to be able to use… that is going to need to be able to go through a 501c3.”

Pete Runyon fishing on the Tug Fork in 2021.

Friends of the Tug Fork River is a group that connects on Facebook to organize events like the tire cleanup. Pete Runyon created the page five years ago.

“I didn’t realize the impact it made on our community,” Runyon said. “Because after we did that and pulled out 2,323 tires, all the people started watching for things and jumping on board and helping us, because they saw us trying to make a positive change in our area.”

For Runyon, part of that change means more recreational fishing and non-motorized boating on the Tug Fork River.

“People instead of traveling away from here to kayak some of the other places or lakes, now we just go out our back door,” Runyon said. “You come here on a weekend, you’ll see all kinds of kayaks on this river. You’ll see people fishing almost daily.”

When visitors arrive, Runyon hopes they see a clean river.

“I want to be able to look back when I really can’t get out here and do this anymore and say ‘You know what? This used to really look bad, but look at it now’,” Runyon said.

John Burchett has been working on these rivers for years. He’s also on the West Virginia Flatwater Trails Commission which was created in 2020. It’s charged with advising the state Department of Commerce while creating standard programs, research and support for the development of a state water trails system. And Burchett says the cleanup efforts are about more than building an economy. The float and fishing opportunities while doing work can also create a sense of place, belonging and new pride for the people in Williamson.

“We are trying to find ourselves, trying to figure out who we are, and tourism is something that we can latch on to right now, until we can move on and find different things for the community,” Burchett said.“It’s important that we start building back, and we’re struggling. But every day, we make a little bit of progress forward. And that’s the important thing is to move forward, everyday. If we don’t, we’re gonna be in trouble.”

Both John Burchett and Pete Runyon are helping other communities pursue West Virginia Water Trail status. In December they met with residents in McDowell County.

Pete Runyon speaking to residents in Welch, W.Va.

Back in Mingo County they plan to keep pulling tires out of the Tug Fork River.

Anyone interested in learning how to test and monitor the water quality of streams and rivers is welcome to attend Volunteer Day on Saturday, April 9 in McDowell County. Williamson and a group of volunteers will meet at Panther State Forest from noon to 5 p.m.

McDowell Communities Get Clean Tap Water – After 11 Years Under Boil Water Advisory

Many of the current water systems in parts of the West Virginia coalfields were installed in the early 1900s by coal companies.

When coal operators, people and jobs left the area, remnants like some beautiful buildings, coal tipples and water systems were left behind. The crumbling infrastructure that followed was not reliable, which meant living without consistent, clean tap water for many coalfield communities.

Residents in Keystone in McDowell County had been on a boil water advisory since 2010 while the neighboring town of Northfork has shared that challenge since 2013.

But soon, phase two of a water project in southern West Virginia will change all of that. After 11 years without consistent access to tap water, most Northfork residents are connected to a new water system.

Phase one of the Elkhorn Water Project began in 2015 and has connected 494 homes or businesses to a new system. This phase included a new water plant and a new 400,000 gallon water storage tank on Elkhorn Mountain. The large storage capacity of the tank allowed McDowell Public Service District to install a line that connected the communities of Anawalt, Jenkinjones, Pageton and Skygusty.

New lines and meters still need to be installed in those additional communities. The project also installed new lines, meters and fire hydrants for Maybeury, Elkhorn, and Switchback. This includes about 270 additional customers.

Phase two will connect about 450 residents including those in Keystone and Northfork, to the new system. The McDowell County Public Service District said in an email that contractors are currently connecting water service to resident’s homes.

While the boil water advisory is still in effect as of Tuesday, McDowell PSD says it can be lifted when all the homes are connected and the old system is taken offline.

Rates increased by 4% for phase one after a USDA loan and grant program. There will be no rate increase with phase two after receiving federal grants from Economic Development Administration (EDA), USDA Rural Development and local funding $50,000 each from McDowell County Commission and McDowell County Economic Development Authority (EDA).

McDowell PSD has submitted funding applications for phase three.

U.S. Senate Committee Hears From W.Va. Water And Wastewater Developers

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee learned more about the challenges of rural infrastructure at a meeting in Beckley on Thursday. The committee heard from state and regional administrators who work on water and wastewater projects, every day.

Committee Chairman Tom Carper of Delaware joined ranking U.S. Senate member Shelley Moore Capito to assess drinking water and wastewater services in the region.

The committee was also joined by Sen. Joe Manchin to hear from a panel including ; Todd Grinstead, with West Virginia Rural Water Association, Jason Roberts with Region One Planning and Development Council and Wayne Morgan with the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council.

The speakers explained the unique logistical challenges of the region along with some possible solutions.

Brown listed seven main challenges including aging infrastructure, declining population, rugged topography, artificially low water rates, lack of piping maps, aging workforce, inability to retain workers, and lack of technology.

He also offered possible solutions including system consolidation, more frequent and sustainable rate increases, and system mapping.

The Committee often cited the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, which passed the U.S. Senate in April but has yet to pass the House of Representatives.

The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hosted another hearing on Friday, in Delaware.

Rural Water Association Looking For New Operators

Many of West Virginia’s water and wastewater operators are expected to retire in the next few years, according to the Brookings Institute and a report from the Water Research Foundation called the Water Sector Workforce Sustainability Initiative.

Todd Grinstead, executive director of the West Virginia Rural Water Association, says his organization is working to help raise awareness about career opportunities in the industry.

“We recognize that a lot of young folks coming out of high school don’t really understand what a water operator does, or wastewater operator does,” Grinstead said. “They don’t realize there’s sciences, biology, there’s technology, there’s electronics, all this is in stuff that they’re interested in, they just don’t realize.”

Grinstead and other staff at his association are planning to spend time at job fairs, vocational centers, and high schools to showcase job opportunities and a new apprenticeship program.

The program formalizes the process to reach certification status. A certified water or wastewater operator must complete about 4,000 hours, or two years, on the job and pass a certification test. The National Rural Water Association has developed an apprentice program to help states across the country meet these requirements in a structured, formal way.

While trainees in the state still need to complete hours on the job, the RWA apprenticeship program creates specific areas of experience to ensure all important areas are covered in a logical order.

“Once an apprentice gets started with a system, there is a mentor assigned to that person. It’s usually a chief operator or somebody who has a lot of years and a lot of knowledge at the water system or the wastewater system that actually will mentor this new person,” Grinstead said.

West Virginia recently changed the state RWA program to include online applications. Grinstead expects the newly approved apprenticeship will help young people enter the workforce.

“The apprenticeship program will allow an employee that’s already employed at a system to go ahead and start the program to become a certified operator,” Grinstead said. “This also allows somebody that doesn’t even have a job in the industry, they can apply.”

The new trainees are important. Some communities in West Virginia don’t have certified operators at all.

“Some of these systems, they don’t even have somebody that can be a mentor to teach them that system,” Grinstead said. “So that’s a problem. I’m not sure how we can get past that.

“The money has to come from somewhere to be able to pay these folks. I don’t know what the magic answer for that is. But it does happen,” he added. “And it’s our desire to add more operators to the field. And hopefully there’ll be enough eventually to get moved around and these smaller systems can hire somebody that’s certified that can do the job and do it correctly and those safely.”

The National Rural Water Association funds the project by paying the salary and benefits of the workforce development administrator as well as material for promotion.

Cleanup On The Cheat Underway Following Acid Mine Drainage Leak

Environmental advocates are beginning to measure the impact after the failure of an acid mine treatment facility last week in Preston County that sent high acidic water and sediment flowing downstream for miles.

The state-managed, $8.5 million treatment plant on Muddy Creek was one of the last major steps put in place to restore the Cheat River watershed. Last Thursday, a pipeline ruptured at the plant following heavy rainfall in the region.

Crews have since repaired the pipeline and the acidity of the stream water has stabilized, according to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP).

Amanda Pitzer, director of the environmental group Friends of the Cheat, said the full impact isn’t known right now but it’s definitely a setback.

“My guess is, Muddy Creek is going to be fairly devastated by this release because it was so fragile to start with,” Pitzer said.

For the first time in decades, essential microorganisms in the water had begun to regenerate, and last year, 10 species of fish were found in the stream. Pitzer said the organization will conduct tests to determine the impact on these fragile emerging populations

The confluence of orange acid mine drainage from Muddy Creek and blue, clear water from the Cheat can be seen on aerial footage captured by the Friends of the Cheat during the release.

The Cheat River was stained for several miles into the canyon towards Cheat Lake.

“It’s too early to say what the long-term impacts will be,” Pitzer said. “The good news is we have not seen any dead fish.”

While the impact of the blowout appears not as severe as similar blowouts in 1994 and 1995, she said it highlights the need for better communication between state agencies and local organizations and a contingency plan for future high-water events.

The WVDEP is investigating to determine the cause of the ruptured pipeline with the help of private industry and experts from West Virginia University.

Terry Fletcher, DEP’s acting communications director, said the investigation into the incident is ongoing and the next steps will be decided at its conclusion.

The plant is equipped to handle up to 7,600 gallons per minute during a blowout and last week’s high water event peaked below the maximum capacity at 6,200 gallons per minute.

Pitzer said the episode highlights the need for the reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Land fee, a key source of funding for her organization and others like it. Without congressional action, it is set to expire this September.

While the river and land will heal over time from last week’s rush of acidic water, Pitzer said the land deserves a higher level of stewardship.

“Every time we get a rainstorm, we cannot have this happen or we will never see restoration,” she said. “Fish need clean water 100 percent of the time.”

State Environmental Authorities Plug Acid Mine Drainage Leak

This wasn’t the first time Dave Bassage had seen orange water gush down the hillside and into Muddy Creek.

He was kayaking down the stream when the original blowout happened in 1994 at the abandoned T&T Mine Complex in Preston County.

Last Thursday, another blowout overwhelmed a pipeline at the $8.5 million treatment facility and sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of highly acidic water and sediment into the creek.

The water ran orange once again.

“It was like a recurring bad dream,” Bassage said “It really hit me in the gut.”

State environmental authorities said Monday that crews have contained the leak at the acid mine drainage treatment facility.

Water levels from the mine and the acidity of Muddy Creek have returned to normal, according to a statement from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP).

Due in part to heavy rainfall, the facility experienced a sudden increase in water pressure last Thursday. A pipeline was damaged as a manhole ruptured, allowing 300 to 500 gallons per minute of untreated water to bypass the plant, according to a WVDEP statement.

Bassage, the founder and former director of Friends of the Cheat, a nonprofit devoted to restoring the watershed, created the organization after the first blowouts in 1994 and 1995. Those events brought national attention and funding to the Cheat Watershed.

For the last 25 years, the organization worked to restore the Cheat Watershed from the effects of acid mine drainage and bring the river back to life. Just this past year, biologists found 10 species of fish at the mouth of Muddy Creek for the first time in years.

In a statement following the most recent blowout, the environment group called it a “major ecological setback” for Muddy Creek’s recently re-emerging fish population.

“This is ever more proof of the risk abandoned mine lands pose to healthy ecosystems, and that our work is not done,” the group wrote.

The plant is built to treat up to 4,200 gallons per minute of acid mine drainage. During a blowout, the facility can handle up to 7,600 gallons every minute.

During last week’s blowout, the flow peaked below the total capacity of the facility at 6,200 gallons per minute.

WVDEP is working with experts from West Virginia University Water Research Institute and the private sector to determine the exact cause of the blowout and find solutions to prevent future ones.

Since its completion in 2018, the treatment plant has successfully cleaned up Muddy Creek, a waterway previously devoid of life.

Bassage said the important “little bugs” required for a healthy creek ecosystem had returned and the water was less acidic and metallic.

With a rush of orange water last week, the delicate balance of fostering new life in streams long plagued with pollution was laid bare.

“All of a sudden, my old home watershed is being horribly insulted,” Bassage said. “It’s going to take a while to get it back to where it was just a year ago.”