Pond Creek Unsuitable for Swimming, Wading: State Cites Acidic Water From Past Mining

By Leigh Ann Tipton, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Mar. 14–Acidic water has prompted the state to declare part of a Muhlenberg County stream unsuitable for swimming, wading and supporting aquatic life.

Areas of Pond Creek from Drakesboro to the Christian County border had low pH readings over a period of time, and the state has drafted a plan to reduce pollutants in the stream. It is seeking public comment on the report through April 12.

“A low pH is an acidic condition,” said Andrea Fredenburg of the state Division of Water. “If you’re swimming or wading in an acidic stream, you might feel a stinging or burning if the water gets in your eyes.”

According to the report released by the Division of Water, most the pollutants are the result of acid mine drainage from past mining operations near the creek’s watershed. Portions of Pond Creek have had pH problems since the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Fredenburg said the pollution of the stream is not a compliance issue — some companies had active permits to mine in the area, but there was no active mining over the period of time when tests were taken.

John Brumley is an environment biologist supervisor for the ecological support section of the state’s water quality branch. Brumley said a low pH causes the denaturation of proteins, essentially changing the shape of the proteins so they no longer work correctly.

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Organisms that can’t move out of an acidic environment, such as algae, die off; and those who can, like fish, move into areas with a more neutral pH.

“pH affects the aquatic community, first of all, by toxic results,” he said. “It also affects the availability of food sources.”

Some organisms, like bacteria, thrive in a low-pH situation.

“So if the pH is too low, almost everything is gone and what’s left is bacteria,” he said.

Brumley said it is often difficult to pinpoint a source of acid mine drainage, and then to secure enough funding to correct the problem.

“It’s a long process getting the pH to where it’s livable, and then getting it from where it’s livable to supporting what it should,” he said. “Nature is very eager to respond if you give it a chance. The actual recovery itself once the pH is up high enough is remarkably quick.”

The Kentucky Division of Abandoned Mine Lands has had more than $7 million worth of projects in the Pond Creek watershed, and the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service has also performed a reclamation project in the watershed. Recently, the Division of Water awarded nearly $1.172 million in federal grant funds to the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands to reduce acid mine drainage from abandoned mine land near Ebenezer. The Ebenezer site includes 80 acres of refuse from an abandoned slurry impoundment. Pond Creek runs right alongside the mine site.

Although funding has been approved, the project is on hold because of a potential remining operation at the site. The state sees remining as a way to extract additional coal, with reclamation occurring afterward.

The state’s report on reducing total maximum daily loads in Pond Creek is at www.water.ky.gov/sw/tmdl.

Leigh Ann Tipton, 691-7302,

ltipton@messenger-inquirer.com

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Copyright (c) 2007, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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