Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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December 27, 2009

Buchanan watershed red flagged by Va. DEQ

By CHARLES OWENS

GRUNDY, Va. — A 41-mile stretch of the Levisa Fork and Slate Creek in Buchanan County is being called “impaired” by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

The stream is impaired for failing to meet an aquatic life use benchmark based on violations of the general standard for aquatic organisms and a failure to meet a recreation use standard. The Levisa Fork also was found to have elevated levels of PCB’s in fish tissue.

Shelly Williams, study coordinator for the DEQ’s Southwest Regional Office in Abingdon, said biologists made the determination after examining aquatic organisms in the stream.

“This is one of the reasons we do the study is to determine what is impairing those benthic invertebrate,” Williams said. “We determine what is stressing the aquatic life. It (the study) is just saying that right now we are seeing some problems.”

The DEQ, the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy and the Department of Conservation and Recreation are holding a pubic meeting on Jan. 1 in Grundy on two water quality studies for the Levisa Fork, including Slate Creek and Bull Creek. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Riverveiw Elementary School. In the event of inclement weather, the meeting will be moved to Jan. 21 also beginning at 6 p.m.

Williams said the purpose of the meeting is to present the draft study and discuss the findings of the report with the community.

At this time, there are no restrictions on boating, fishing or swimming in the streams.

“It just means the levels of e-coli are higher than state standards,” Williams said.

The DEQ is seeking input from the community on the draft studies.

“With this meeting we want to present the draft to the public and give them an opportunity to review the draft and give us their comments on what they think about it,” she said. “They live in the water shed. They are there everyday, and their input is very important.”

Williams said there is no time frame at this point for a corrective implementation plan for the stream.

The DEQ study looked at total maximum daily loads, or TMDLs, for the impaired waters. A TMDL is the total amount of a pollutant a water body can contain and still meet water quality standards.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com





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