Dunkard Creek
Encyclopedia
Dunkard Creek is a stream that flows 36.9 miles (59.4 km) through Greene County, Pennsylvania
and Monongalia County, West Virginia
, near the towns of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania
, and Blacksville, West Virginia
. It flows into the Monongahela River
northwest of Point Marion, Pennsylvania
, approximately three miles north of the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.
Mason-Dixon Historical Park is located on the banks of Dunkard Creek in an area where the creek crosses the border three times in less than one mile. The park grounds include Brown's Hill, the westernmost site from which Charles Mason
and Jeremiah Dixon
made astronomical observations during the original survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border in 1767.
The creek is named for members of the Dunkard sect
, a pacifist, nonconformist group of Christians who settled in the region during the 18th century.
In September 2009, Dunkard Creek suffered a massive fish kill
resulting in the death of more than 160 species of fish, salamander
s and endangered mussel
s in the creek. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection determined that an algal bloom
was responsible for the loss. The bloom is believed to have been possible as a result of high chloride
and salt levels in the water. A Consol Energy
mine discharge site on the creek is the likeliest source of contamination. Since at least 2002, the West Virginia DEP had known about and been pressured by environmental groups to take action on high levels of chlorides and other contaminants in the Blacksville No. 2 outfall, but they took no action against Consol.
In March 2011, Consol Energy reached an agreement with the US EPA and the State of West Virginia regarding damage done to Dunkard Creek caused by high levels of TDS
in the discharge from their Blacksville No. 2 mine. As part of that settlement, Consol agreed to pay $5.5 million in civil penalties for pollution violations related to the 2009 fish kill. The settlement also describes requirements for Consol to complete a new, $200 million water treatment system to better control pollution discharges from its active and former mining operations in the area.
and historically supports a variety of fish, including smallmouth bass
, sunfish
, and muskellunge
in all but the lower 6.2 miles (10 km) (from Taylortown to Poland Mines, Pennsylvania), which have been devastated by decades of unchecked acid mine drainage
(AMD).
In 2007, thanks to the support of an EPA Targeted Watersheds Grant, the Greene County Watershed Alliance
and the Friends of Dunkard Creek sought to reclaim part of the lower 6.2 miles (10 km) by creating a Passive Treatment System, or constructed wetlands, on the Mathews farm near Poland Mines. At this site, the abandoned Maiden #1 mine dumped over a million gallons of untreated AMD into Dunkard Creek each day.
Working with Stream Restoration, Inc. and public/private partners from across the region, the Alliance created a Passive Treatment System consisting of:
1. An aerobic
wetland
(shallow water flowing over vegetation). Once established, an aerobic wetland produces large amounts of organic debris. The debris encourages anaerobic bacteria, which can revert sulfate ions into sulfide
ion
s. Sulfide ions can then bind with heavy metal ions (such as iron) to remove them from the water.
2. Limestone ponds and channels. (Limestone, because of its high calcite content, reduces the acidity of AMD naturally.) When combined with man-made wetlands, it creates a self-renewing Passive Treatment System.
In all, close to 12,000 tons of limestone
(equal in weight to 8,000 average-sized cars) were used at the Mathews Restoration Site. Volunteers started more than 2,000 plantings from 34 different species of plants, trees and shrubs. The combination of plantings and engineered flow ponds and channels is a great example of how man and nature can work together to reclaim an area from AMD.
Greene County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 40,672 people, 15,060 households, and 10,587 families residing in the county. The population density was 71 people per square mile . There were 16,678 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...
and Monongalia County, West Virginia
Monongalia County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 81,866 people, 33,446 households, and 18,495 families residing in the county. The population density was 227 people per square mile . There were 36,695 housing units at an average density of 102 per square mile...
, near the towns of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania
Mount Morris, Pennsylvania
Mount Morris is an unincorporated community in Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States.-Geography:Mount Morris is located at , on Interstate 79 near the West Virginia state line. Its elevation is 938 feet ....
, and Blacksville, West Virginia
Blacksville, West Virginia
Blacksville is a town in Monongalia County, West Virginia, USA. The population was 175 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Morgantown, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Blacksville is located at ....
. It flows into the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
northwest of Point Marion, Pennsylvania
Point Marion, Pennsylvania
Point Marion is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,333 at the 2000 census. It is served by the Albert Gallatin Area School District.Point Marion is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers...
, approximately three miles north of the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.
Mason-Dixon Historical Park is located on the banks of Dunkard Creek in an area where the creek crosses the border three times in less than one mile. The park grounds include Brown's Hill, the westernmost site from which Charles Mason
Charles Mason
Charles Mason was an English astronomer who made significant contributions to 18th-century science and American history, particularly through his involvement with the survey of the Mason-Dixon line, which came to mark the division between the northern and southern United States...
and Jeremiah Dixon
Jeremiah Dixon
Jeremiah Dixon was an English surveyor and astronomer who is perhaps best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason-Dixon line....
made astronomical observations during the original survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border in 1767.
The creek is named for members of the Dunkard sect
Dunkard Brethren
The Dunkard Brethren are a small group of conservative Schwarzenau Brethren churches that withdrew from the Church of the Brethren.The Church of the Brethren represents the largest body of churches that descended from the original pietist movement began in Germany by Alexander Mack and 7 other...
, a pacifist, nonconformist group of Christians who settled in the region during the 18th century.
In September 2009, Dunkard Creek suffered a massive fish kill
Fish kill
The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off and as fish mortality, is a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalised mortality of aquatic life...
resulting in the death of more than 160 species of fish, salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s and endangered mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s in the creek. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection determined that an algal bloom
Algal bloom
An algal bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments. Typically, only one or a small number of phytoplankton species are involved, and some blooms may be recognized by discoloration...
was responsible for the loss. The bloom is believed to have been possible as a result of high chloride
Chloride
The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine, a halogen, picks up one electron to form an anion Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. The chloride ion, and its salts such as sodium chloride, are very soluble in water...
and salt levels in the water. A Consol Energy
Consol Energy
Consol Energy is an energy company headquartered in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, suburb of Cecil Township, in the Southpointe complex. It is one of the US's largest coal mining companies, along with Peabody Energy and Arch Coal...
mine discharge site on the creek is the likeliest source of contamination. Since at least 2002, the West Virginia DEP had known about and been pressured by environmental groups to take action on high levels of chlorides and other contaminants in the Blacksville No. 2 outfall, but they took no action against Consol.
In March 2011, Consol Energy reached an agreement with the US EPA and the State of West Virginia regarding damage done to Dunkard Creek caused by high levels of TDS
Total dissolved solids
Total Dissolved Solids is a measure of the combined content of all inorganic and organic substances contained in a liquid in: molecular, ionized or micro-granular suspended form. Generally the operational definition is that the solids must be small enough to survive filtration through a sieve...
in the discharge from their Blacksville No. 2 mine. As part of that settlement, Consol agreed to pay $5.5 million in civil penalties for pollution violations related to the 2009 fish kill. The settlement also describes requirements for Consol to complete a new, $200 million water treatment system to better control pollution discharges from its active and former mining operations in the area.
Mathews restoration site
Dunkard Creek drains a rural 235 square miles (608.6 km²) watershed within nine townships in Greene County, Pennsylvania, and three districts in Monongalia County, West Virginia. The river is classified as a warm water fisheryFishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
and historically supports a variety of fish, including smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
, sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
, and muskellunge
Muskellunge
A muskellunge , also known as a muskelunge, muscallonge, milliganong, or maskinonge , is a large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish of North America. Muskellunge are the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae...
in all but the lower 6.2 miles (10 km) (from Taylortown to Poland Mines, Pennsylvania), which have been devastated by decades of unchecked acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage , or acid rock drainage , refers to the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. However, other areas where the earth has been disturbed may also contribute acid rock drainage to the environment...
(AMD).
In 2007, thanks to the support of an EPA Targeted Watersheds Grant, the Greene County Watershed Alliance
Greene County Watershed Alliance
A diverse coalition of 76 partners from Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the Greene County Watershed Alliance is working collaboratively to restore the Dunkard Creek Targeted Watershed...
and the Friends of Dunkard Creek sought to reclaim part of the lower 6.2 miles (10 km) by creating a Passive Treatment System, or constructed wetlands, on the Mathews farm near Poland Mines. At this site, the abandoned Maiden #1 mine dumped over a million gallons of untreated AMD into Dunkard Creek each day.
Working with Stream Restoration, Inc. and public/private partners from across the region, the Alliance created a Passive Treatment System consisting of:
1. An aerobic
Aerobic organism
An aerobic organism or aerobe is an organism that can survive and grow in an oxygenated environment.Faculitative anaerobes grow and survive in an oxygenated environment and so do aerotolerant anaerobes.-Glucose:...
wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
(shallow water flowing over vegetation). Once established, an aerobic wetland produces large amounts of organic debris. The debris encourages anaerobic bacteria, which can revert sulfate ions into sulfide
Sulfide
A sulfide is an anion of sulfur in its lowest oxidation state of 2-. Sulfide is also a slightly archaic term for thioethers, a common type of organosulfur compound that are well known for their bad odors.- Properties :...
ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
s. Sulfide ions can then bind with heavy metal ions (such as iron) to remove them from the water.
2. Limestone ponds and channels. (Limestone, because of its high calcite content, reduces the acidity of AMD naturally.) When combined with man-made wetlands, it creates a self-renewing Passive Treatment System.
In all, close to 12,000 tons of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
(equal in weight to 8,000 average-sized cars) were used at the Mathews Restoration Site. Volunteers started more than 2,000 plantings from 34 different species of plants, trees and shrubs. The combination of plantings and engineered flow ponds and channels is a great example of how man and nature can work together to reclaim an area from AMD.