Water Quality Changes in a Polluted Stream over
a Twenty-Five-Year Period
Jason Stewart and Jeff Skousen*
Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV 26506-6108
*
Corresponding author (jskousen@wvu.edu)
The water in Deckers Creek was sampled in 1974 at 29 locations along the main
stem and resampled in 1999–2000 to determine water quality changes over this
25-year period. Water at almost all sampling points showed lower acidity and
metal contents in 1999–2000 compared with 1974. Water pH increased at the
mouth from 5.4 in 1974 to 6.0 in 1999–2000. Acidity and iron concentrations were
decreased an average of 70% in the upper stretches of the creek.. In the upper
section, the water quality in Deckers Creek has improved due to decreased
surface and underground coal mining activities, reclamation of abandoned and
recently permitted surface mined lands, and natural healing of past land use
scars from timbering and mining over time.
Water quality has improved in many streams, rivers, and lakes in the USA over
the past 20 to 30 years (Smith et al., 1987). This is due largely to the passage of
laws that regulate discharges into waters of the USA. For example, the Clean
Water Act (CWA) was passed in 1977 (including amendments of the previously
passed Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 [Arbuckle et al., 1993]),
which was established "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and
biological integrity of the nation's waters." To achieve this purpose, a permitting
system called the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) was
developed to regulate pollution from point sources into rivers or lakes of the USA.
As a result, all chemical, manufacturing, energy, and mineral extraction
companies are required to obtain NPDES permits with effluent standards for
discharged water since 1977. Municipalities discharging wastewater effluent into
rivers and lakes were also forced to obtain NPDES permits, which prompted the
construction of wastewater treatment facilities.
Another example is the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA),
which became law in 1977. The SMCRA established mining performance and
land reclamation standards, including the assurance that "surface coal mining
operations are so conducted as to protect the environment." It also provided a
mechanism where previously disturbed and abandoned, unreclaimed land could
be reclaimed to current standards.
The effects of these two laws on water quality improvements are often
overlooked because changes in land and water resources over decades of time
are forgotten or not passed on to succeeding generations. The Deckers Creek
watershed has a long history of industrial development and associated
environmental abuses from both land and water pollution practices. This
watershed is used as an example to evaluate the changes of water quality in the
Appalachian region where resource extraction practices have occurred during the
past 100 years.
Beginning in March 1999, water samples were collected at the same 29 sites
along Deckers Creek. A Model 3500 water quality meter (YSI, Yellow Springs,
OH) was used to measure temperature, electrical conductivity, and pH in the
field. Two water samples were collected at each site. The first sample was
collected in a 250-mL plastic bottle and was neither filtered, nor acidified. A
second sample of 20 mL was filtered with a 0.45-µm filter and acidified to pH 2.0
with 0.5 mL of concentrated hydrochloric acid. Both samples were placed on ice
and transported to the laboratory. The first sample was analyzed for pH, acidity,
and alkalinity with a TitraLab Autotitrator (Radiometer A/S, Brønshøj, Denmark),
while the second sample was analyzed for total iron, aluminum, calcium, and
several other elements with a Plasma 400 inductively coupled spectrophotometer
(PerkinElmer, Wellesley, MA). All titrations were performed within 6 h of sample
collection.
Flow Measurement
Flow determinations were made at the same time water samples were taken. At
the beginning of the study at each sample point, the cross-section of the stream
channel was mapped and a reference point was marked for subsequent depth
measurements. At later sampling times, the depth of the water was measured at
this reference point and used to calculate the vertical area of water flow at the
stream cross-section. Water velocity was measured with a FP101 flow probe
(Global Water, Gold River, CA), which computed an average velocity over a 10-s
period. Multiplying the cross-sectional area of the water in the stream by velocity
provided the estimate of flow at that sampling point.
Water Chemistry
Another water sample was collected two or three days after chemistry samples
were obtained each month and tested for the presence of FC bacteria. A
membrane filtration technique was used (Clesceri et al., 1998). Samples were
collected in 1-L plastic sterilized bottles that had been treated with 3 mL of
sodium thiosulfate to bind any residual chlorine present in the creek water. Six
volumes were analyzed (0.1, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0, 50.0, and 100.0 mL) to produce
plates with between 20 and 60 countable colonies. Both the 0.1- and 1.0-mL
volumes of sample were combined with 12 mL of peptone buffer to pass a
sufficient volume of fluid through the filters. The 5.0-mL sample had 8.0 mL of
peptone added, the 10-mL sample had 4.0 mL of peptone added, while the 50and 100-mL volumes had no peptone buffer added. Suspensions were plated
onto m-FC agar and incubated at 44.5°C ± 0.2°C for 24 h. Individual colonies with
a bright blue color were counted to determine the number of colony forming units
per 100 mL.
Statistical Analysis
Regression analysis (Microsoft Excel) was used to compare rainfall with stream
flow data (Microsoft, 1997). Statistical software (SAS and Excel) was used to
perform t tests on pairs of data points (1999 vs. 2000 data) and analysis of
variance (ANOVA) on the 1974, 1999, and 2000 data sets (SAS Institute, 1989).
The least significant difference (LSD) method was used to separate means when
significant differences were found by ANOVA. To compensate for variations over
orders of magnitude in FC bacteria counts normally seen in microbiological
studies, geometric means were analyzed. When working with a data set with
large variations, geometric means give a better measure of centrality than do
arithmetic means (Hunter et al., 1999).
pH
The data indicate that pH and alkalinity at 75% of the sites have significantly
increased (p < 0.05) between 1974 and 1999–2000, and acidity and iron have
significantly decreased (P < 0.05) at 60% of the sites (Table 1). Less
improvement, however, occurred at the Tramps site and on downstream.
Table 1
Comparison of mean
values for five
selected parameters.
Means are from
monthly samples
obtained between
March to June in
equations for each
month based on
rainfall and flow data
from 1948–1970.
1974, 1999,
and 2000 (n _ 4).
Heavy Metals
Total iron levels dropped 90% throughout the upper stretches of the watershed
(Table 1), but no differences were found at three of our eight locations:
Headwaters, Tramps, and Morgantown. Tramps had the highest iron levels in
1999–2000 due to inputs of untreated mine drainage at Richard. Iron is less toxic
than aluminum, and will readily combine with hydroxide ions to form precipitates
that coat stream bottoms.
Aluminum and manganese concentrations in Deckers Creek were not analyzed
during the 1974 study. In 1999–2000, average aluminum concentrations in
Deckers Creek were lower than the state standard (0.75 mg L-1) at all points
upstream from the Richard Mine discharge (Table 2). The Richard discharge
water averages 71 mg L-1 aluminum, 173 mg L-1 iron, and almost 4 mg L-1
manganese. At each sampling site downstream of Richard, average aluminum
concentrations in Deckers Creek were 3 to 4 mg L-1. Average manganese levels
were lower than the state standard of 1.0 mg L-1 at all sites, except the Richard
discharge water.
Table 2
Table 4. Mean concentrations of five elements at nine sites during
March–June 1999–2000 (n _4) in Deckers Creek and the input
of these elements at the Richard underground mine discharge.
Fecal Coliform (FC) Bacteria
Populations of FC bacteria were found to be very high in some parts of Deckers
Creek. Masontown was by far the most heavily affected site in the creek. During
the summer months of 1999, FC bacteria levels was found to be 9.7 x 105 colony
forming units per 100 mL. Statistical analysis indicates that FC bacteria levels
were significantly different among sites (p < 0.01) and that a significant difference
also existed among seasons (p < 0.01) at each site (data not shown).
Water chemistry in Deckers Creek has significantly improved between 1974 and
1999–2000. The creek is a good example of the changes in water quality of many
streams in the Appalachian Region during the past 20 to 30 years that were
affected by resource extraction activities over the past century. Water pH was
generally 1 to 2 units higher, and acidity has declined by more than 38% between
these two dates across all sampling locations. The upper portion of the creek
showed dramatic improvements with >70% reductions in acidity and metals.
Measurable improvements have been realized after 20 years with the
enforcement of environmental laws and regulations developed in the 1970s.
Natural reclamation and time passage also have had beneficial effects on
improving stream quality. Water quality has improved because of reduced surface
and underground mining activities, better reclamation and water control
techniques on active surface mines, reclamation of abandoned surface mined
lands, treatment of mine discharges, and natural healing of past land
disturbances over time. This study also showed that as the chemistry of Deckers
Creek improved to support aquatic life, sewage inputs were found to be an
increasingly noticeable problem. Sewage treatment by wastewater treatment
plants is needed to limit the direct input of sewage into the creek and to restore
the quality of Deckers Creek. The City of Masontown, one of the major
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