Another valley creek problem

[jayL]

Mike (philfisher) called me today and said he was at valley. He said that the flows were similar to the recent fish kill. He took a hike up to the confluence with little valley, and saw that it was once again the source of the extra water and turbidity.

Apparently PECO had an issue with one of their pumps and caused the discharge.

Discharge

Turbidity

Let's all hope that this doesn't cause another kill.

You can see that the discharge was about half of a standard summer thunderstorm earlier on the 31st. Turbidity was double. Looks like it might be some dirty water, unfortunately.

 

[JasonS]

Sheesh, that stream is having a tough year. Hopefully not too much damage will be caused this time. If I don't drink to much tonight at the phillies game I plan on fishing valley early tomorrow morning. I'll let you know what I see. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[philfisher]

As Jay said, I hiked upstream to check things out because last time the problem was on Little Valley. Again, that's where all the dirty water is coming from. I called the EPA and they said it was a PECO problem and that they were on it. I didn't see any dead fish. Water temp was 63 at the metal bridge. I've got very dramatic pics of the Little Valley confluence but can't seem to attach them. Maybe later.

And now for the rant: Valley has been designated an "Exceptional Value" watershed, which "affords it the Penn Dept. of Environmental Protection's highest level of protection" (quote from http://www.savevalleycreek.org/watershed.asp#). If this is what happens to the "Exceptional Value" creeks, I'd hate to see what goes on in watersheds with lesser designations. This is the second time this has happened THIS SUMMER! Obviously somebody needs to make PECO get their #OOPS# together. This is unacceptable.

 

[jayL]

Mike,

Upload them to imgur.com and post them that way.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

ya i wanna see. Shame on the DEP. What good are they if they arent going to do anything.

 

[philfisher]

Thanks Jay. I'm still not sure how to insert html links, etc., so I'm just posting the direct links to the photos. The first one is at the metal bridge in the park, the second two are at the confluence.

http://imgur.com/VR6q9
http://imgur.com/vbQoA
http://imgur.com/N0e1b

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Omg thats horrible and looks disgusting!

 

[tomgamber]

looks like the confluence at Pittsburgh...can't be good.

 

[JasonS]

Philfisher,

Thanks for documenting this and contacting the DEP. PECO really does need to get their act together. Once is bad enough but twice is freaking ridiculous.

 

[afishinado]

Ditto, thanks for checking on the problem, documenting it with photos and reporting it. Problems never cease on Valley. Everyone should try to keep an eye on ithe stream and report any problems to the DEP or PFBC.

 

[Fredrick]

What does peco do with the water were they have to dicharge stuff into it ?

 

[Broy]

JasonS, did you end up getting to Valley today?

If so, then you and I would've had the exact same evening and morning, Phillies, first loss i've seen this year , and then valley in the morning!

 

[littlelehigh]

I've heard of companies years ago doing this to the Lehigh around Allentown and we have had some in the past couple of years. I've heard some speculators say it's cheaper for these companies to have "accidents" and pay the fines then to pay for disposal of the waste.

Though I can't say there is any truth to this it does sound logical to me and if there only being fined to offset the "clean up" costs why are they not charged a replacement cost per wild fish. Calculating that is a whole different debate but none the less shouldn't they pay an excessive penalty for this repeated "mistake". Oh wait they are the number one contributer to fast Eddie's campaign fund. I'll end this now and hopeful LJ can explain the rest with his synopsis from Fox News.

 

[Squaretail]

Woah. That IS pretty bad. This time of year and the lower flows to have that much sediment. Need some really strong storms before spawning season to wash that crap out, on top of the fish kills.

 

[jayL]

Squaretail wrote:
Woah. That IS pretty bad. This time of year and the lower flows to have that much sediment. Need some really strong storms before spawning season to wash that crap out, on top of the fish kills.

Luckily, she's blown again. It has happened a few times since this event.

Here's to hoping we keep getting rain.

 

[Raven456]

Those are some really disturbing photos! Good job documenting that event.

 

[fly_doggie]

Someone was wondering why PECO would need to discharge? It was not a matter of needing to discharge but another in a long series of water line (PECO, Aqua PA, et.al.) breaks damaging Valley Creek. This latest was a line break in PECO's fire suppression system. There is no monitoring device to measure pressure drop or anything and happening on a holiday weeked compounded the problem. EPA, DEP, PA Fish Commision and local conservation groups are aware and very involved. At last count DEP counted 107 dead fish as well as other critters.

PECO has been fined and is working with conservation groups to see what can be done to prevent future problems. From what I hear the good news is PECO is very open and willing to work on a solution as opposed to corporate stonewalling.

It is very frustrating as local conservation groups spend time and money improving and preserving VC only to see things like this happen over and over.

Keep up the good work and report anything else you may see on ANY stream. It's the only way to keep 'em honest.

 

[Brownout]

Very nice investigative fishing, thanks for keepin' the good fight alive mate. 5 stars. Does anyone know how large or small a fine for that kind of damage is, provided that there is adequate documentation to warrant a fine?