This watershed can never catch a break. I would guesstimate in the last 15 years there’s been at-least 5 fish kills. This time, another water main break. My morning survey I would say I counted at-least 200 fish fish dead in just a mere 0.5 mile stretch I walked. Out of those dead fish\section of water I would say around 1/3rd of them were trout with a-lot of the others being minnows of sorts(dace?) and suckers\chubs with a sun fish here and there. The majority of trout were in the 3-6″ range with a few 8-10″ and a few even higher around 14″, with the biggest I found being 17-18″. If there’s any good news to this is it seems like it was at-least isolated and only affected a small portion of the streams entirety, mainly the upper stretches. Also, out of the 200+ id say existed to be dead that i could count, there were maybe 10 that seemed to have more life in them then less. Here’s to hoping it can recoup like it always has in the past and the fish can continue to thrive.
3 thoughts on “This Watershed Never Gets A Break”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Yo Matt
Thanks for helping WCO Bob Bonney and Valley Forge TU out today. I’ll repost your page on FB, PAFF, and other forums.
tl
les
Man, is that Valley? VFTU sent me here from their post, that sucks… seems like those water mains are still breaking every 6 months… I lived in Norristown & Limerick up until 2013 and this stuff was going on back then too. Hate to see that it hasn’t changed.
Hey Matt- Thanks for helping with clean-up!
There have been many assaults on Valley Creek in the past 15 years. Bob Bonney probably had to write reports on each of them. (Writing reports is NOT his favorite task.) Development, stormwater, and the Turnpike would be non-point additions.
Below is the list I have:
07 Nov 2021 milk Rt 202 and 401
23 April 2018 water main break Chesterbrook/ VFNHP
January 2016 Three water main breaks, early Jan Rt 202 and 401; 11 Jan along Cedar Hollow Rd; 18 Jan in front of Chester Valley Golf Club
01 June 2016 lack of erosion control during re-lining Forced Main VFNHP Rt 23
05 Feb 2014 sewer line break Rt 23 and 252 VFNHP prompting release of sewage directly from the Wilson Road pump station to bypass the broken line
18 March 2014 a repeat of February
March 2012 sewer main break
Doesn’t include June 2005 (undetermined cause), Dec 2005 water main break 202 and Swedesford, May 2009 fire suppression line Chesterbrook, 2009 sewer line man-hole on Crabby Creek (Valley trib)