Written by Nick Volpetti, WDTV 

June 8, 2026 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) - The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) showcased a treatment plant Monday that is helping restore water quality in Deckers Creek.

For decades, the abandoned Richard Mine in Morgantown had been severely polluting water in Deckers Creek, which runs through Morgantown and into Preston County.

That changed in April 2024 when the Richard Mine Treatment Plant began operating to fix acid mine drainage from the abandoned mine.

Since then, the facility has improved water quality in nearby areas of the creek, helping restore aquatic life.

The WVDEP’s Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation (AML) celebrated the facility’s success in cleaning the water of Deckers Creek.

“Without crucial treatment systems such as this, the entire ecosystems and streams cannot live,” Friends of Deckers Creek Executive Director Brian Hurley said. “So that’s why we need to treat the water, because we want the streams to live.”

Acid mine drainage had been causing the water to become more acidic and often covered streams with metal deposits, both of which can harm habitats for aquatic life.

Since the plant began treating water, West Virginia University’s Water Research Institute has found that the facility has done its job in cleaning the creek and restoring wildlife. Some species of fish that had not been able to survive before have been spotted in the creek.

“Suddenly people that would never go fishing in Deckers Creek can fish and they can catch trout in there,” Hurley said. “People who will ride by on the rail trail or at the parks and suddenly the water is water colored instead of orange and sludge colored.”

On top of posing a threat to wildlife in the creek, acid mine drainage can also come with a potential hazard for West Virginians.

“We have blowout potential where water builds up in a mountain and then blows out, landslides, subsidence, dangerous high walls,” AML Deputy Director Travis Parsons said. “The water can contaminate people’s drinking water or their livestock water. There’s a lot of different issues out there that can come from these.”

The treatment plant was made possible by a widespread community effort from organizations around the area, including Northeast Natural Energy and the U.S. National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS).

According to a WVDEP press release, NRCS provided over $4 million for construction costs and Northeast Natural Energy pitched in with $600,000.

Treating acidic water left behind from the height of coal mining in the Mountain State allows wildlife to thrive, and maintains West Virginians’ access to healthy drinking and fishing water.