10,000 Gallons of Latex spills into North Branch of the Potomac River

[PocketWater]

http://www.times-news.com/news/verso-latex-spill-fouls-north-branch-potomac-river/article_0eee602e-6307-11e5-acb9-232ec71634c7.html

 

[GenCon]

Man that sucks.

GenCon

 

[PocketWater]

GenCon wrote:
Man that sucks.

GenCon

Certainly does. Puts a pit in your stomach any time you read about something like this.

 

[rrt]

I think the water, as it is now, would be appropriate drinking water for our "illustrious" legislators and executives, at both the national and state government levels.

I hope it somehow passes through without doing too much damage to the stream and the life in the stream.

 

[ryansheehan]

As if this stream has not had enough issues in the last 50 years. Unbelievable.

 

[Kill3ducks1deer]

That's a strange thing to hear about being spilled in a creek

 

[blauner335]

It looks nice and creamy/muddy too - I drive over it going to work every morning a few miles downstream of where this happened. Definitely sad to see.

 

[724flyfishing]

I was just there. It was such a nice river. I'm a guessing this is the big paper mill in Piedmont, WV? So this would be right below where the Savage flows in? Do trout hold in this area below where the Savage goes in? This sucks regardless.

 

[CenMD4458]

724flyfishing wrote:
Do trout hold in this area below where the Savage goes in? This sucks regardless.

Pretty sure trout hold down from where the Savage dumps in, for several miles. I think I remember seeing reports of nice browns being caught not far down from there, as well as comments on how (surprisingly) clean and clear the water had been below the the paper mill of late. I also think it turns into smallmouth water after that so either way, if this spill effects the fish, aquatic life, and forage(how can't it) then its a damn shame.

 

[bigslackwater]

If I read this correctly, it spilled from a rail car at the paper plant where is was washed down a drain where it traveled to the waste water treatment plant and was then discharged to the river. It seems like there were missed opportunities for containment. It's not like the rail car spilled out over a bridge into the river. Does anyone else find this suspicious?

 

[krayfish2]

What a shame. I'll be interested to see the amount of fish killed and the impact on the insect life. No fish kill noted in the article but expect that will change after looking at the pics.

 

[724flyfishing]

It sounds shady to me too. It sounds like one of those "it's cheaper to just pay the fines", type deals. This unfortunately happens a lot in big industry but just gets pushed under the rug most of the time.

 

[Tucker733]

Trout hold pretty good from the paper mill all the way to keyser. Then it's more of a bass fishery. Water was discolored all the way in Cumberland yesterday when I checked it out.

 

[ryansheehan]

Downstream of the paper mill and savage river is where the river has had the best recovery. The insects and wild fish are more abundant past there. Barnum is nice and getting better from the acid run off but the insects are not great.

 

[mkerr]

What a shame! Hopefully MDE will hold someone accountable for the spill. The spill is horrible. The mill in Luke and Westernport pollute the river nonstop. In the updated article the manager states that the plant meets the state permit by filtering out 85% of the turbitity of the waste water. I have opperated water and wastewater plants and do not understand how they are permitted to discharge that high of a percentage. The Mills and the sate agencies should be ashamed.

 

[blauner335]

CenMD4458 wrote:

724flyfishing wrote:
Do trout hold in this area below where the Savage goes in? This sucks regardless.

Pretty sure trout hold down from where the Savage dumps in, for several miles. I think I remember seeing reports of nice browns being caught not far down from there, as well as comments on how (surprisingly) clean and clear the water had been below the the paper mill of late. I also think it turns into smallmouth water after that so either way, if this spill effects the fish, aquatic life, and forage(how can't it) then its a damn shame.

Yes trout hold downstream almost all the way up to Cumberland, surprisingly. I have caught a few nice rainbows and browns in there, but mostly stick to the Savage and up around Barnum.

Another problem these sections have downstream from the mill is that there is a sewage leak into the river. Although I did not fish there this year because of my bad experience with it last year, there were signs along sections last year not allowing trout to be harvested due to it. I guess it has been a persistent problem for a little while.

Also, the water is still very cloudy as of today

 

[Fishidiot]

Thanks for keeping us informed.

This thread will move to Conservation forum shortly.
DaveW

 

[PocketWater]

Also, the water is still very cloudy as of today

Any update on the water conditions?

 

[bigslackwater]

This article is disturbing. How hard is it to find out what the chemical is? Shoudn't the paper plant know exactly what it is? Should't the MDE know by now? They cant even say if it is real latex.

Potomac Latex Spill

 

[troutbert]

One article called it "synthetic latex", and had this quote:

"The AP reported that over the next three hours, nearly 10,000 gallons of a 50-50 mixture of water and styrene-butadiene, a rubbery compound used as a paper coating, poured into the mill’s sewer and through a wastewater treatment plant into the Potomac’s North Branch, Rowzie said."

Wikipedia says "Latex (emulsion) SBR is extensively used in coated papers, being one of the cheapest resins to bind pigmented coatings."

It also said that styrene-butadiene is used in chewing gum.