Impaired Streams Must Be Listed By WV-DEP, BUT NOT!
The Elk River is on an EPA list of impaired streams.
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From the Report of Curtis Tate, WV Public Broadcasting, October 6, 2023
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More than 300 streams are missing from a state database of polluted waterways.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified 346 streams in West Virginia that don’t meet water quality standards under the federal Clean Water Act, totaling 1,600 miles.
They are missing from a list the WV Department of Environmental Quality must submit every two years to the EPA.
They include portions of the Guyandotte, Elk, Gauley, Big Coal, Little Kanawha, Tug Fork, Tygart and South Branch Potomac rivers, as well as Davis Creek near Charleston.
According to the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the WV-DEP uses an outdated methodology to measure biological impairment in rivers and streams.
The EPA is taking public comment on the issue through Oct. 18.