Valley Creek water main break

[JustFish]

Just heard a couple hundred fish were killed today from a water main break at Valley Creek. Poor stream can’t get a break. Anyone have anymore information on this?

 

[EazyP]

Saw that on Facebook. Sucks! Definitely looking for more information also if anyone knows anything.

 

[mcarney99]

Really interested in this too been checking all day on here for someone to post something

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Any word on this yet?

 

[PhillyFlyFish]

I was there at 7pm Sunday - crystal clear beautiful. Apparently overnight there was a water main break at 252/Swedesford Rd. I was told chlorine got into the stream. I stopped by yesterday and saw about 20-30 dead chubs and dace. Didn't find any dead trout - but the stream smelled like dead fish, was running very high/fast, and super murky. The smell was almost unbearable in some spots. Going to stop by again tonight to check it out.

 

[shadspoon]

Water main broke at route 252 just opposite the quarry at Westlakes. Entered the stormwater system and entered Little Valley Creek. About doubled the flow and the kill extended through Little Valley to Valley and to the Schuylkill. Kill zone was to just above the covered bridge late yesterday. The fish below, if alive, have been severely damaged. Chlorine is bad stuff for anything with gills! A big thanks for several calls to DEP by fisherfolks!! PaFish&Boat was there until evening, and the Park was on top of it as well. A very devastating spill.
Pete Lee / VFTU

 

[sarce]

Wow, brutal. That's a huge spill to send it from 30 to 50 cfs like that.

I don't live in that area anymore so it's easy for me to say this, but I feel like that part of the stream ought to be closed to fishing for a year or two following this incident, if the toll on the trout population was as bad as it sounds.

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

What a shame. That is my go-to section of Valley when I don't feel like driving too far up to the Poconos...I hope someone is held accountable for this mess.

 

[afishinado]

shadspoon wrote:
Water main broke at route 252 just opposite the quarry at Westlakes. Entered the stormwater system and entered Little Valley Creek. About doubled the flow and the kill extended through Little Valley to Valley and to the Schuylkill. Kill zone was to just above the covered bridge late yesterday. The fish below, if alive, have been severely damaged. Chlorine is bad stuff for anything with gills! A big thanks for several calls to DEP by fisherfolks!! PaFish&Boat was there until evening, and the Park was on top of it as well. A very devastating spill.
Pete Lee / VFTU

Wow, that stream and the fish can't seem to catch a break! Just in the past few years several backups and pipe breakages spewing raw sewage > chlorinated water from another water main break > plus all the chemicals and PCBs left in the stream from industries in the past.

You can see the spike with flow in the chart below:

 

[Fredrick]

Curious if you can sue a municipality to replace all of its underground infrastructure with all these incidents the past few years I believe VFTU has a case .

Any counts on the dead fish yet ? I wonder how the bugs faired off as well what fish that are left will have nothing to eat .

 

[Zanotti]

Went today at 1pm. Sizeable number of dead fish on the bottom, trout like, but not perfectly identified. No smell. Looks bad, no live fish seen.

Photos:

 

[afishinado]

Fredrick wrote:
Curious if you can sue a municipality to replace all of its underground infrastructure with all these incidents the past few years I believe VFTU has a case .

Any counts on the dead fish yet ? I wonder how the bugs faired off as well what fish that are left will have nothing to eat .

It took the threat of a lawsuit by VFTU and others to have an entire new sewer pipe system along lower Valley Creek which was just installed and completed last year.

The water main issue may be more difficult since the break is not really that close to Valley Creek itself, it was actually in the town of Berwyn.
And the water mains are owned by the water company, Aqua, I believe.

Here is a short article about the break: https://patch.com/pennsylvania/te/water-main-break-closes-swedesford-road-berwyn

Again, hard to believe all the issues this stream has had to endure.

 

[PhillyFlyFish]

I think Aqua owns the pipes and receives a fine for each dead fish. Probably cheaper than fixing the pipe/pipes so it probably won't be the last time.

 

[JustFish]

PhillyFlyFish wrote:
I think Aqua owns the pipes and receives a fine for each dead fish. Probably cheaper than fixing the pipe/pipes so it probably won't be the last time.

I wonder how they determine how many died considering the stream was moving pretty good for a day. It probably washed many of them out into the Schuylkill River.

 

[wildtrout2]

JustFish wrote:
I wonder how they determine how many died considering the stream was moving pretty good for a day. It probably washed many of them out into the Schuylkill River.

I doubt we'll ever know the true number of trout lost on this latest break/spill. What a shame.

 

[mikesl]

Can confirm many dead suckers and trout

But a few trout still hanging in there.

My estimate from seeing how many trout are visible in the usual spots is 70-90 percent mortality. Not sure any yoy survived?

I am sure it will bounce back, but c’mon, this is the US in 2018, not Eastern Europe in the 70’s..... need to get our sh*t together.

Ugh

 

[PhillyFlyFish]

JustFish - I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I read somewhere that for every 10 dead fish they keep 1? This was in another state and was a different incident so I'm just guessing. Maybe they consider each dead fish as 10? Either way terrible news.

 

[PhillyFlyFish]

I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I read somewhere that for every 10 dead fish they keep 1? This was in another state and was a different incident so I'm just guessing. Maybe they consider each dead fish as 10? Pretty sh*tty

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

This is why we can't have nice things. People suck.

 

[Zanotti]

This will make everyone's head explode: PA should stock the stream.....