Speakers were somber on the second day of the West Branch Susquehanna River Symposium, as they described negative effects on the watershed from pollution past and present.
Many of the first day’s talks on Friday had centered around successful efforts to boost water quality and fish populations. Saturday made it clear that environmental threats remain legion.
Jon Dietz of Dietz-Gourley Consulting showed the results of research he did with Dr. Carl Kirby, a geology professor at Bucknell University. He said acid deposition from sources such as power plants and emissions from cell phone towers are creating atmospheric acids and “dramatically affecting watersheds.”
“Pennsylvania is in the bulls-eye for acid deposition,” he said as he pointed to a map. “We have the most acidic rain historically in the United States.”
The current average pH level of rain in the state is between 4.3 and 4.4 on the pH scale — five to 10 times more acidic than “natural” precipitation, he said. Most insects, fish and aquatic plants cannot survive in significantly acidic water.
He recommended solutions ranging from treatment systems such as limestone basins or diversion wells to stronger emissions controls.
Professors Matthew McTammany of Bucknell University and Steve Rier of Bloomsburg University said in their research they addressed questions regarding acid mine drainage and nutrient pollution in the river water and how the current remediation efforts being made are affecting those components in the “big picture.”
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate compounds wash into the river from farms and sewage treatment plants and can lead to uncontrolled algae growth in areas such as the Chesapeake Bay.
“Most people don’t usually think about what is going on in the stream itself ... but a tighter nutrient spiral is better than an unhealthy one,” Rier said. Nutrient spiraling refers to the way nutrients are distributed within the stream bed via water currents. In essence, the faster the rate of flow, the healthier the stream, he said.
Several streams that run into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River are getting better nutrient spiraling, and others, such as Lick Creek, have nearly recovered from a long history of mining, based on a 12-year study, McTammany said.
State Department of Environmental Protection official Michael W. Smith, of the Moshannon district office, displayed a slide show “tour” of the West Branch from its headwaters near Carrolltown in Cambria County to its confluence with the North Branch at Northumberland.
He said there have been acid mine drainage impacts from major tributaries such as Anderson Creek, Clearfield Creek, Deer Creek, Moshannon Creek and the Bennetts Branch of the Sinnemahoning, yet despite this, the West Branch has “great potential” for outdoor recreation once water quality is restored.
“It’s not dead, but its not exactly thriving,” Smith said.
William Lellis, of the Leetown Science Center Northern Appalachian Research Laboratory in Wellsboro, said in the Delaware River, there are 2 million freshwater mussels per river mile helping to remove about 100 tons of sediment per day. The number of mussels in the Susquehanna River is small by comparison. Lellis said research suggests that is because their life cycle is tied to American eels, which they use as hosts for their larvae.
Lellis speculates that the damming of the Susquehanna River in the 20th century decimated the eel population, which impacted the mussel population in turn.
He cautioned against jumping to conclusions, however, and said further research is needed to determine if mussel populations are at present limited by a lack of fish hosts in the Susquehanna.
To conclude the symposium, event attendees chose to partake in one of two afternoon trips; a guided tour of Babb Creek Watershed Acid Mine Drainage Projects or a fly-fishing trip to Pine Creek Valley. Both activities were intended to showcase restoration successes in the West Branch.
The event, held at the Genetti Hotel, was sponsored by the DEP, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Trout Unlimited, the West Branch Susquehanna Restoration Coalition and the Western Pennsylvania Watershed Program, to name a few.
