April Showers - May Flowers, May Showers - Flash Flooding

But while flash floods make the larger South Branch muddy, they don't necessarily result in larger flooding unless the weather system travels North-Northeast along the watershed.  This week we'll likely on see a swollen muddy South Branch.

We're in the clear, but the river will rise

WV Water Resources Concerns

register-herald.com

Water rich, water poor: WVU professor shares his views on the state's most important resource

When bean counters tabulate the profitable natural resources of West Virginia, calculations are made about the coal that is hauled out of the rugged and rural mountain landscape or the natural gas being captured from thousands of wells in increasing volumes. There remains a vast supply of timber, too.

But for Nicolas Zegre, an associate professor of forest hydrology at West Virginia University and the director of the university's Mountain Hydrology Laboratory, the most important and largely overlooked commodity in the state is water.

Zegre is studying the state's water security, how climate change could impact the state's supply and how the state can position itself to benefit from what he believes is its most valuable resource.

On April 1, Zegre presented the media with the work, some findings and future possibilities for the Mountain Hydrology Laboratory at WVU's Academic Media Day in Morgantown.

The hydrology professor said that his lab's work centered on predicting climate in the state and the greater Appalachian region by compiling modeling of climate patterns and possibilities.

***

According to Zegre, the historical temperature range of West Virginia falls between

Hampshire man pleads to EPA crimes

Friday, April 5-7, 15 min ago
MAKING HEADLINES

Hampshire man pleads to EPA crimes


MARTINSBURG — A Springfield man has pled guilty to discharging untreated sewage into the North Branch of the Potomac River.

Timothy Peer, 55, faces 3 years in prison and upwards of $500,000 in fines for charges of falsifying reports, violating his permit, polluting and mail fraud.
Peer admitted in Martinsburg federal court Wednesday that he failed to maintain a treatment plant he owned at Mountainaire Village near Ridgeley and that he falsified quarterly reports.

Visit www.HampshireReview.com or Hampshire Review every day for the latest news of importance here.

White Horse Mountain fundraising

bayjournal.com

Bay Journal

Hugging the slow s-curves of road winding into a mountainous sliver of West Virginia’s Hampshire County, I remembered why they call this portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed “wild” — and why clean water advocates were desperate to keep it that way.

I was headed to White Horse Mountain, an almost entirely tree-covered heap of rocky hills hugging and draining into the South Branch of the Potomac River. It’s one of the largest undeveloped forestlands remaining in the region, home to rare wildflowers and habitats, hike-worthy vistas and the occasional bobcat or black bear. And it’s only recently been reopened to the public.

Five years ago, the Potomac Conservancy began raising more than $3 million — twice the nonprofit’s annual operating budget — to buy White Horse Mountain and keep its 1,730 acres of hardwood forest, rocky outcroppings and shady streams from being developed into 70 homes. Their fundraising efforts trumpeted the importance of preserving the

It's that time of the year..

Copperheads are common along the South branch. They are generally "shy" and will avoid humans and dogs. But if trapped they may strike to protect themselves, much like adult black snakes. But unlike young black snakes, young (especially very young) copperheads strike at almost anything that moves.

Rivers in WV more vulnerable than in other states

Clean Water Act Revision: Headwater Streams and Wetlands Could Lose Protections – Comment by 4/15

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to redefine an important part of the Clean Water Act, which protects headwater streams and wetlands. The rule the Trump Administration is proposing to redefine is called “waters of the United States.” It determines what waterbodies are eligible for protection under the Clean Water Act. Learn more here.

By the EPA’s own estimate, the revision would remove protections for 51% of our nation’s wetlands and 18% of streams, making it easier to pollute, pave over or build on

Water quality bill passes without updated human health criteria

Water quality bill passes without updated human health criteria – The Parthenon


Perry Bennett

West Virginia House delegates enter chambers, Saturday, March 9. 

New proposals concerning water quality and protections will not 

be reviewed until the 2020 legislative session.

West Virginia House delegates enter chambers, Saturday, March 9. New proposals concerning water quality and protections will not be reviewed until the 2020 legislative session.

Advertisement
In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency recommended West Virginia update 60 of its 94 water quality standards to reduce present toxins and carcinogens, but this weekend, the state legislature passed a bill including none of the recommended protections.

Delegate Evan Hansen (D- Monongalia, 51), minority vice chair of natural resources, said the standards in Senate Bill 163, ultimately determined by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, rely on data from the 1980s.

Hansen proposed an amendment to the bill to re-include the updated protections that were removed, but the amendment failed in a 34-64 vote.

“The reason legislators did not update the standards is because they were lobbied by the West Virginia Manufacturers Association,” Hansen said. “It’s very clear, and the Manufacturers Association was not secretive about it.”

Many of the pollutants meant to be controlled by the standards are carcinogens, Hansen said, so while the state’s cancer rate may not directly increase, it is likely to at least remain higher than it should be

Upper Potomac Riverkeeper - Downstream movie event

Join PRKN President Nancy Stoner and Friends of Cabin John Creek for their featured EcoMovie 2019 Keeping the Potomac: The Politics of Water showcasing our work protecting the Potomac watershed. 

Nancy will be joined by the film’s producer, Elizabeth Herzfeldt-Kamprath, on Sunday, March 17, from 3 – 5 pm at the Clara Barton Community Center, 7425 Macarthur Blvd, Cabin John, MD 20818. 

Jennifer Jones: Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust

Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust, Inc.
March 7

From the new Executive Director Jennifer Jones:

It is with much gratitude that I greet you as the new Executive Director of the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust.

The words “Land” and “Trust” will be my guiding stars. As a Land Trust our job is to preserve as much of the natural land and heritage of the Cacapon River watershed as possible. We can only do that we if have the trust of the landowners that live here and others who understand the urgency and importance of our work.

I’ve had the privilege of working with landowners all over the country and just over the ridge in Virginia. I’ve listened to them talk about their struggle to hold onto their land and engage the next generation. And, I’ve heard them talk about how their land defines their sense of place and their identity.

It’s a love for the land -- and all the challenges that come with it -- that brings me here, to be in service to you, to earn your trust and to help conserve this unique and vital resource.

The Cacapon watershed is one of the most ecologically-beneficial tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay because of its water quality, filtered clean by the forested landscapes that surround it and graced by a vast array of wildlife and plants. This is a landscape held together by generations of farmers who