New Muddy Creek water treatment facility
PRESTON COUNTY, W.Va. - The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
celebrated the Muddy Creek Watershed Restoration Project Friday.
The project has already brought great success to the 3.4 miles of Muddy Creek impacted
by acid mine drainage.
"Muddy Creek was the biggest source of acid mine drainage for the whole Cheat.
It was half of all of the acid load that went into the Cheat River and was responsible
for most of the problem," said Dr. Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia
Water Research Institute.
Dr. Paul Ziemkiewicz speaking to WDTV News about the environmental restoration of Muddy Creek.
Due to the mine blowouts in the 90's, the river hadn't seen life. The state-of-the-art
treatment system, at the the T&T Treatment facility, collects and treats six
million gallons of acid mine drainage per day.
"This river was completely orange, completely dead. It had a pH of about three
right here," Ziemkiewicz said. "A safe level is anywhere between 5-1/2 and seven
or eight.
For the rest of the story,
go to WDTV's website at this link.