Around September 1, 2009, fish began dying in Dunkard Creek, a 35 mile waterway that runs along the PA/WV southwest border and empties into the Monongahela. The creek crosses the border over 80 times in its course, passing through agricultural, mining and residential areas before it enters the river above Point Marion.
Salinity & conductivity levels in the creek suggest that the cause of the kill is wastewater from Hydraulic Fracture Mining, the process used to extract natural gas from shale beds. Evidence seems to suggest that other indicators, such as the presence of golden-algae (Prymnesium parvum, a southern, saltwater algae), are secondary to the high presence of Total Dissolved Solids and chlorides: byproducts of the hydraulic fracture mining process.
From Sudden death of ecosystem ravages long creek
‘Everything is being killed’: 161 aquatic species have died along Dunkard Creek
This website is dedicated to collecting information about the fishkill.
All interested parties are invited to post relevant information on this site.
Please direct any correspondence to dunkardcreek (at) q (dot) com