More People, More Woes for Waters
By REX SPRINGSTON; LAWRENCE LATANE III
Something is sickening and killing thousands – if not tens of thousands – of fish in western Virginia. To the east, more than 300,000 fish died this summer in a Westmoreland County creek. Also, sudden growths of algae are fouling the lower James and other eastern rivers. River watchers say the troubles indicate growth in the population – up about 600,000 in Virginia since 2000 – is swamping the state’s efforts to clean the waters.
“We are seeing some scary indicators of chronic water-quality problems,” said Mike Gerel, a staff scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation environmental group.
A new federal report calls the Chesapeake Bay one of the most- polluted waters in the country. It also said some problems have worsened in the tidal James and Rappahannock rivers since the 1990s.
Pollution can hurt tourism and watery playgrounds. Virginia’s problems persist despite years of state and federal efforts to clean rivers and the bay.
Scientists have found many sick and dying fish in waters west of the Blue Ridge, including the Shenandoah River and the upper James. In parts of the Shenandoah, up to 80 percent of the adult smallmouth bass – prized by anglers – have disappeared.
To Gerel, these troubled waters are eerily similar to the bay, where oysters have nearly died out, blue crabs are dwindling and the depths are occupied by an oxygenless “dead zone” each summer.
“Maybe now we’re seeing what’s going to be the freshwater expression [of over-pollution] – these chronically sick fish.”
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In the Potomac River, which forms Virginia’s long northern boundary, blooms of microscopic algae have fouled tidal waters much of the summer. (A bloom is a fast, harmful growth of algae.) One species released toxins that killed more than 300,000 fish in Mattox Creek, a Potomac tributary in Westmoreland.
Small blooms have occurred off and on in the Rappahannock, the York and the James rivers. Fed by pollution, algae tend to bloom in hot, sunny weather.
“These are conditions we don’t want to see, but to some extent we do expect to see them during the summer,” said Bill Hayden,[kch: CQ : ] a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Algae outbreaks should drop in coming years as sewage-treatment plants make state-required pollution cuts, Hayden said.
As for the sick and dying fish in western waters, Hayden said, “It appears to be a unique situation,” perhaps caused by a complex combination of factors such as pollution, bacteria and parasites.
The bay and its tributaries, including the James, are polluted primarily by excess nutrients – waste from people, animals and fertilizer. The nutrients fuel the algal growth. The algae kill fish and other aquatic life by releasing toxins or by sucking up oxygen when they die.
The relationship between pollution, algae and fish kills in tidal waters is well-understood. What’s killing fish in western rivers is a mystery. A task force is investigating those deaths, which tend to occur from March to mid- or late June.
Greg Garman, a Virginia Commonwealth University fish biologist, said the eastern and western cases differ but share an underlying problem – an abundance of people and their intensive land uses, from farming to urban development.
“The thing that does connect all the dots is just too many people and too much of the human activities that tend to degrade water quality,” he said.
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A report released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave little promise of improvement in a river-by-river review of the Chesapeake Bay.
The James’ and the Rappahannock’s nutrient levels are moderately high and worse than they were when the NOAA last examined them, in the 1990s, the report said.
The York’s moderately high nutrient levels are unchanged.
“This has everything to do with increases in the population in the watershed,” said Suzanne Bricker, the report’s lead author.
On most of the bay’s rivers, “we’ve been just able barely to hold the line against future degradation,” she said, “but I think we’re losing that battle, and these results show that.”
The NOAA rated the Potomac’s nutrient levels as high. The agency’s prediction for the future of the grand waterway that passes the nation’s capital on its way to the bay is troubling: “Nutrient- related symptoms … are likely to substantially worsen.”
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Cornelius Little of Colonial Beach is a veteran Potomac waterman. Algae is so abundant in the river that he and his mate, David Brensinger, are forced to bring some of their crab pots to shore every day, where they spend an hour with a power washer trying to scrub the pots clean.
“They’ll get so heavy [with algae] that you can’t lift them,” Brensinger said.
Clean waters are good for the economy. Fish deaths in the Shenandoah Valley alone caused a loss of about $700,000 in sales and state revenue in 2005, a James Madison University report shows. In the bay region, pollution has devastated a once-booming seafood industry.[rsp: lawrence is trying to find a figure for the bay: ]
And who doesn’t like swimming, or wading, or boating in a clean river? Or just looking at one?
Still, aided by tough federal pollution laws, most Virginia waters are much cleaner than they were 40 years ago, when the James stank and belly-up fish were common.
Those laws, however, primarily cracked down on pollution from sewage plants and factories.
With more improvements coming soon to plants and factories, experts agree the big threat to our waters is runoff pollution – old oil, pesticides, fertilizers, pet waste and eroded soil that wash off the land into streams from farms, streets and yards.
That sort of widespread pollution is tough to fix.
Environmentalists say Virginia needs to set aside more money for solutions such as planting riverside trees and grasses, which filter pollution, and helping farmers become more eco-friendly.
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If you can’t see what’s wrong, why fight to fix it?
When Chuck Epes, a spokesman for the bay foundation, was growing up in Newport News, he could catch crabs anytime he wanted.
Now, crabs are scarce and the waters are cloudy instead of clear, Epes said.
“That,” he said, “is the world young people are seeing today and accepting as normal. That’s a real tragedy.”
POLLUTION SOLUTIONS
Ways you can help Virginia’s waters:
–Plant native trees, shrubs and grasses as buffers along waters. They will reduce erosion and pollution caused by runoff during rains.
–Create borders of mulch between your yard and the street or nearby stream to catch runoff.
–Clean up after your pets. Storm water can carry their waste into streams.
–Protect open lands through conservation easements.
–Use permeable paving, such as brick and concrete lattice, so water can soak into the ground.
–Use a rain barrel or a water garden to catch water from your downspout.
–Pump your septic tank every three to five years.
–Don’t overfertilize. Get a state brochure on fertilizing by calling (877) 429-2837.
–Adopt a stream, pledging to help keep it clean. Call the number above.
–Join a local conservation group.
–If you see silt-laden water running off a construction site, call your local government.
–Urge elected officials to fund cleanup programs.
–Use less energy. Nitrogen in air pollution – primarily from power plants and cars – can hurt waters.
–Take a child to the river. The child may develop a desire to help our waters, and outdoor play could improve the child’s health.
SOURCES: Chesapeake Bay Foundation, James River Association, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
SICK WATERS, DYING FISH
Virginia’s rivers have been suffering a spate of problems this spring and summer. The specific cause of incidents to the west is unknown. The other incidents are better-understood. In all these cases, experts say, pollution is a factor.
Shenandoah River region: Sick and dying fish each spring since 2004
Cowpasture River: Sick and dying fish 2007
Upper James River: Sick and dying fish spring 2007
Maury River: Sick and dying fish spring 2007
Mattox Creek: At least 300,000 fish killed July 2007
James River: Scattered algae blooms summer 2007
York River: Scattered algae blooms June 2007
Chesapeake Bay: Dead zone virtually every summer
Rappahannock River: Scattered algae blooms June 2007
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Times-Dispatch research
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Lawrence Latane III at (804) 333-3461 or llatane@timesdispatch.com.
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO, MAP
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