Commercial Land Use In the Mill Creek Watershed An Environmental Summit Project By: Beth Whytsell, Andrew Carroll, Emily Keller

Basic Information!!!! What is a watershed? -A watershed is an area of land that drains to a river. Where would you find them? -They are easily identified by ridge tops and the water flowing off of hills. Let’s break it down! -We start at the Mill Creek watershed then flowing into the Opequen Creek then on to the Potomac River then it will continue into the Chesapeake Bay eventually reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

12-Digit Watershed

Big Run Water Testing: Chemical conditions Result Units Temperature (C/F) 7.5 C pH 7 Conductivity na us Dissolved Oxygen 10 ppm Nitrate/Nitrite 0 ppm Alkalinity 300 ppm Turbidity 0 JTU Bacteria (Fecal/E-coli) na na Other chemical tests (describe the test and record the results) Phosphate: 0 ppm Big Run received a rating of 28 which places in the optimal range. Big Run will serve as our control to compare other data too, since it’s healthy and it’s at the headwater.

Mill Creek Water Testing: Chemical conditions Result Units Temperature (C/F) 5.5 C pH 7.5 Conductivity 680 us Dissolved Oxygen 10 ppm Nitrate/Nitrite 0 ppm Alkalinity 275 ppm Turbidity 0 JTU Bacteria (Fecal/E-coli) na na When we test Mill Creek November 20 th, 2009 the creek received a suboptimal rating of 20.

Musselman High School Water Testing: April 12,2010April 12,2010 Free Chlorine- 0.0ppmFree Chlorine- 0.0ppm pH- 8pH- 8 Total alkalinity- 120ppmTotal alkalinity- 120ppm Total chlorine- 0ppmTotal chlorine- 0ppm Total hardness- 0ppmTotal hardness- 0ppm Nitrates- 0ppmNitrates- 0ppm Nitrites- 0ppmNitrites- 0ppm Iron- 0ppmIron- 0ppm Copper- 0ppmCopper- 0ppm Sulfates- 100ppmSulfates- 100ppm Hydrogen Sulfide- 0ppmHydrogen Sulfide- 0ppm Chloride- 500ppmChloride- 500ppm Temp degrees CTemp degrees C April 19, 2010April 19, 2010 Free Chlorine- 0.0ppmFree Chlorine- 0.0ppm pH- 8pH- 8 Total alkalinity- 0ppmTotal alkalinity- 0ppm Total chlorine- 0.2ppmTotal chlorine- 0.2ppm Total hardness- 0ppmTotal hardness- 0ppm Nitrates- 0ppmNitrates- 0ppm Nitrites- 0ppmNitrites- 0ppm Iron- 0ppmIron- 0ppm Copper- 0ppmCopper- 0ppm Sulfates- 100ppmSulfates- 100ppm Hydrogen Sulfide- 0.2ppmHydrogen Sulfide- 0.2ppm Chloride- 400ppmChloride- 400ppm Temp degrees CTemp degrees C

Mill Creek Testing Photos:

Commercial Land Use in The Musselman High Watershed While there’s no commercial industry in the Musselman High School Watershed, it is effected by the Inwood Quarry located behind the school. The run-off pond behind the school is effected by run-off from the quarry.

All of the Inwood Commercial Land use of the Inwood Quarry

Inwood Quarry Facts: What is the purpose of the Inwood Quarry? - To provide construction aggregate for the area. What is the total area of the Quarry? km2 or (327 acres) What type of rock is mined? - Limestone: two types- greenbrier (softer) and dolomite (harder) James, Buddy, Interview March 29, 2010

Continued: How long have you been mining the area? - Since 1900 also within that time they have rebuilt and shifted location within the area. The karst topography allows them to mine for the limestone. What are the basic environmental regulations that the quarry must follow? - They are required to have a costly permit and they must take weekly water samples and every 3 months are required to show their results to the DEP. They test for pH, total suspended solids, and aluminum.

All of the Inwood Commercial Land use of the Inwood Quarry

Inwood Quarry Results: The run-off is pumped from the blasting site and stored in three run-off ponds. Once the silt becomes so deep they must drain before it will empty into Mill Creek. Water is pumped out 667,065 liters per hour. After completing chemical tests on Mill Creek twice we gathered the following results: temperature 12 degrees Celsius, nitrates 1, pH 7.5, alkalinity 165, dissolved oxygen 8 and 8.2.

Liquid Asphalt Mixing Associated Asphalt LLC.

Associated Asphalt Transport LLC. They have been in business since They receive their supplies by the Norfolk Southern Railway System. They are currently working on improving their environmental awareness. They want to work on pollution emitted into the air and how it affects the neighboring homes.

Martinsburg Brick Factory Continental Brick Co.

Facts and Purpose Of Continental Brick Company: What is the purpose of the company? - To mine shale and make bricks What is the total area of the operation? km2 (250 acres) and.12 km2 (30 acres) is actually constantly used for production What environmental regulations are placed on your company? - Quarry permit through DEP. They test the top soil, run-off water, and quality of groundwater. How often must you show your test results to the DEP? - Two times a month to the state. Sult, Don. Phone interview. 5 Apr

Continued: Where does your run-off go? - It travels through run-off ponds and then empties into Evens Run or Opequen Creek. How often does your plant operate? - The kilns are on 24/7 and the plant runs 8 hours a day 5 days a week.

North Mountain Facts: It will be a Shale quarry. The permit will cover.40 km2 (100 acres) and was applied for by North Mountain Shale, LLC (backed by Continental Brick Company). They will remove Shale off of approximately.16 km2 (40 acres). According the current permit they are applying for. Convincing arguments exist from both sides.

Possible Effects of North Mountain Shale Mine

Proposed Layout of the North Mountain Mine

Why is this important? Most of our area lays atop sensitive karst topography. Karst topography shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of limestone(in our case). The karst topography makes it easy for pollutants to spread across our watershed.

Map of Karst Topography in Berkeley County, WV and surrounding areas

Conclusions: One of our initial research questions was “What is the state of the Mill Creek and Musselman High School watersheds?” This question was then broken down further into aspects that could be investigated… We investigated commercial land use in our watershed which can be summarized with the following…

Conclusions: (continued) After detailed research of several companies displaying commercial land use we have the following conclusions from the data gathered. From a physical environment stand point the observations show that it has declined from our controlled testing at Big Run. From a chemical stand point the water has not been affected. The water being dumped into the different streams is proven to be healthier than the actual stream itself.

Conclusions: (continued) Although Commercial Land Use may be an eye sore and not be the prettiest thing to be displayed it is necessary therefore highly needed in our area. So after the analysis of our research we have found that the Commercial Land Use has no drastic affect on the overall health of our streams.

Bibliography: James, Buddy. Interview by Beth Whytsell. Personal interview. 29 Mar Sult, Don. Phone interview. 5 Apr Berkeley County, West Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from Hartman, A. (2009). Pollution In Jefferson County Streams and Local Efforts to Improve Water Quality. Charles Town, WV: West Virginia Department of Environmental Protecton. NORTH MOUNTAIN WEST VIRGINIA - DOCUMENTS. (n.d.). NORTH MOUNTAIN WEST VIRGINIA - HomeWest Virginia Wild & WonderfulBerkeley County in the Eastern Panhandle. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from NORTH MOUNTAIN WEST VIRGINIA - QUARRIES. (n.d.). NORTH MOUNTAIN WEST VIRGINIA - HomeWest Virginia Wild & WonderfulBerkeley County in the Eastern Panhandle. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from