Date 8/5/21
There has been no official announcement from the DEP or PA Fish and Boat Commission on what the source was that caused the fish kill in Chartiers Creek on July 19th, 2021.
There have been two news articles that I have seen that have misleading headlines and I wanted to clear the air as things get shared around social media.
The first one I saw was from KDKA in Pittsburgh reporting on the story. The headline reads: DEP Blames Fungicide For Thousands Of Dead Fish In Chartiers Creek which has been speculation around the community. If you dig into the article more you will find that the DEP has yet to officially announce what the chemical was that killed the fish.
Photo Credit Darlene Marie Seaton
The article states:
UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. (KDKA) – The Department of Environmental Protection is blaming a fungicide for the fish kill last month in Chartiers Creek.
The DEP estimates thousands of fish of many different species and other aquatic life died. Now the DEP says it will wait for more test results.
They’re calling on the public to report any future fish kills or pollution events immediately to the DEP because the lag in reporting time seriously hindered this investigation.
Investigators shared that fish and aquatic life is returning to the creek, and they’ve found no new evidence that any fungicide remains in the water.
The wording in the news headline is making people jump to conclusions that the cause of the spill has been determined but yet it’s still ongoing. We need to do our part and keep the pressure on DEP and PFBC to give official test results and actions.
KDKA Photo:
Another article by the Observer-Reporter – The headline states: Fungicide cause of Chartiers Creek fish kill, DEP determines.
This article states:
DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said the agency is waiting for results from samples taken between July 19 and 26 to help assess the creek’s recovery and any lasting impacts the spill might have.
“However, during inspections of the stream the weeks of July 19 and 26, DEP observed fish and aquatic life starting to repopulate the affected area,” Fraley said in an email.
She said no evidence of fungicide or other pollutants remains in Chartiers Creek in the area of the spill that indicate any further impact on aquatic life.
The DEP declined to comment on the potential source or sources of the fungicide.
This appears to be more speculation without an official DEP announcement. This is another misleading headline so we want to communicate that out to the public.
The good news from all of this is the water is safe for use. It appears whatever the chemical was it came in and exited quickly. Sadly it took out a lot of aquatic life in transit to the river and the source may never be known. We should do our part to put pressure on these agencies to find the source and work to prevent this going forward.
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