Boulders are placed in the Little Coal River as part of a sediment-flushing cross-vane dam. More than 100 similar structures will be built in the Coal River system during the next two years as part of a $3 million state Department of Environmental Protection project.
The Coal River system, already the state's most rehabilitated watershed, will receive millions of dollars in additional therapy in coming years in the form of more than 100 sediment flushing dams, new sewer projects, and new tributary stream clean-ups.
ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- The Coal River system, already the state's most rehabilitated watershed, will receive millions of dollars in additional therapy in coming years in the form of more than 100 sediment flushing dams, new sewer projects, and new tributary stream clean-ups.
"We're going to see the resurrection of a stream that [the nonprofit group] American Rivers once named one of the most endangered rivers in the nation," said Bill Currey, president of the Coal River Group's board of directors. Currey and several government agency officials announced the next phase of improvements earlier this week, during the CRG's annual fundraising dinner at Angela's on the River in St. Albans.
The new work will include the installation of silt-dispersing cross-vane dams from the U.S. 119's Little Coal River Road exit downstream to the Indian Head subdivision on the outskirts of St. Albans. The new work includes a near 20-mile stretch of the Little Coal and Main Coal rivers.
Since 2007, about 35 of the V-shaped dams, made of logs and boulders, have been installed in the Little Coal between McCorkle and U.S. 119 at Little Coal River Road. The dams direct the river into narrow channels, accelerating stream flow and carving deep pools around strategically placed boulders. Stream bottom rocks and gravel are scoured of sand and exposed to sunlight and oxygen, providing habitat for the aquatic insects and invertebrates that fish feed on.
Sedimentation from years of mining, timbering and development have left long stretches of the river system choked with sand.
Dennis Stottlemyer, mitigation coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said more than $3 million will be spent during the next several years on more than tripling the number of cross-vane dams and bank stabilization projects already completed on the Coal River system.
The money comes from stream loss mitigation funds collected mainly from mountaintop removal coal mining operations.
"As far as I know, this is the largest project of this type underway anywhere in the United States," he said.
ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- The Coal River system, already the state's most rehabilitated watershed, will receive millions of dollars in additional therapy in coming years in the form of more than 100 sediment flushing dams, new sewer projects, and new tributary stream clean-ups.
"We're going to see the resurrection of a stream that [the nonprofit group] American Rivers once named one of the most endangered rivers in the nation," said Bill Currey, president of the Coal River Group's board of directors. Currey and several government agency officials announced the next phase of improvements earlier this week, during the CRG's annual fundraising dinner at Angela's on the River in St. Albans.
The new work will include the installation of silt-dispersing cross-vane dams from the U.S. 119's Little Coal River Road exit downstream to the Indian Head subdivision on the outskirts of St. Albans. The new work includes a near 20-mile stretch of the Little Coal and Main Coal rivers.
Since 2007, about 35 of the V-shaped dams, made of logs and boulders, have been installed in the Little Coal between McCorkle and U.S. 119 at Little Coal River Road. The dams direct the river into narrow channels, accelerating stream flow and carving deep pools around strategically placed boulders. Stream bottom rocks and gravel are scoured of sand and exposed to sunlight and oxygen, providing habitat for the aquatic insects and invertebrates that fish feed on.
Sedimentation from years of mining, timbering and development have left long stretches of the river system choked with sand.
Dennis Stottlemyer, mitigation coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said more than $3 million will be spent during the next several years on more than tripling the number of cross-vane dams and bank stabilization projects already completed on the Coal River system.
The money comes from stream loss mitigation funds collected mainly from mountaintop removal coal mining operations.
"As far as I know, this is the largest project of this type underway anywhere in the United States," he said.
The DEP is funding a West Virginia University study that will assess how efficient a job the stream structures are doing at restoring aquatic habitat in the Coal River watershed.
Stottlemyer said the DEP has identified some tributary streams with iron, aluminum and bacterial problems, "and we will start fixing them," he said.
Eric Hartwell of Dunn Engineers, Inc., said work is nearing completion on a $9 million second phase of a Greater St. Albans Public Service District sewer project that will bring sewer service to 700 homes along lower Coal River. The service will focus on homes in the Indian Head Village subdivision, the Lower Falls Peninsula and along Strawberry Road.
Construction on a third, $13 million phase of the sewer project is expected to begin by the end of the year. That work pick up about 500 homes along U.S. 60 from Arborland Acres to the Putnam County line and a section of Martins Branch.
Bacterial contamination from inefficient or flooded sewage package plants and septic systems has been a major water quality problem on the lower reaches of the Coal River.
The restoration of Coal River system "must include a holistic effort that addresses not only the impact of mining and commercial developments on the water supply," Currey said. "Equally important is the need to provide safe, potable water for the communities in the region.
"The combination of the stream structure project and the new study by WVU, when coupled with completion of a $20 million sewage project near St. Albans will make the restoration of the rivers a reality."
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5169.
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