Illegal dump seems water pollution culprit - Friends of Deep Creek Lake

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Deep Creek site cleaned up twice after tests showed poor quality
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

Oakland — OAKLAND — An illegal garbage dump located on private ground in Garrett County could be the cause of ongoing water quality problems in Deep Creek, according to local officials.

The dump site is located off Mayhew Inn Road east of the intersection with Sang Run Road. Water from nearby Deep Creek flows directly into the Youghiogheny River just below Swallow Falls.

The organization Friends of Deep Creek Lake discovered water quality problems in Deep Creek through sampling and testing conducted in 2004, and repeated in April 2009. Both rounds of testing showed the creek’s water quality to be very poor. Director Barbara Beelar attributed the testing results largely to contamination from the dump site.

“Volunteers found everything from old tires, microwaves, batteries and household items to multiple animal carcasses at the site,” Beelar said. When the organization discovered the garbage dump, members reported it to county officials.

A cleanup crew removed one refrigerator, 13 tires and an additional 1,940 pounds of trash from the site this spring. That cleanup followed less than one year after a similar project at the site in summer 2009, in which an unknown amount of trash was removed.

Both cleanups were organized by county officials and the work was done by local inmates, with assistance and equipment provided by the county roads department.

This spring the county also took steps to prevent more trash from being dumped in the future, by blocking a pull-off area near the dump site with a row of large rocks.

The water sampling was conducted as part of a Maryland Department of Natural Re-sources program called Stream Waders, in which trained volunteers take water samples from streams throughout the state. The samples are analyzed in an Annapolis lab.

The water’s quality is determined by the types and numbers of tiny aquatic animals found living in it, since certain organisms can only live in healthy streams while others typically live in poor-quality water.

“This is an excellent example of collaboration among many parts of Garrett County government and the local watershed group,” Beelar said. “We will resample the water next spring and expect there will be major improvements.”



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