08/21/08 — More than 400 fish have died this week in the downtown-Meadville waters of Mill Run. That’s the bad news — and, in one way, it’s the good news, too.
Officials at Meadville’s Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources office are seeking the public’s help in solving the mystery. Ironically, their large, four-story office building is also downtown, at the corner or Market and Chestnut streets, and it sits quite near to a visible stretch of the stream that feeds into French Creek about a quarter-mile farther downstream.
Mill Run originates east of town, near Tamarack Lake, and travels through three miles of city terrain, most of it unseen as it meanders beneath downtown streets.
A DEP employee leaving the building on Tuesday noticed some of the dead fish and saw that the slowly-flowing water had a strange blue-green color at that spot.
Something entered the creek, contaminating the waters, officials report, but they don’t know exactly what or where. So much of the creek is underground that the entry point will be difficult to find.
DEP staffers have done some preliminary investigation, however, and a 1,000-foot stretch between the new Walgreens drug store (at Liberty and North streets) and Meadville Public Library (at North and North Main), seem to be strong possibilities for the contamination’s point of origin.
Some people have reported smelling an odor that could be an indicator of the trouble, but DEP officials have not detected it themselves.
It is not yet known what substance caused the water’s blue-green color.
The 400 fish represent various species, and some of the fish were somewhat surprising to DEP officials. “We were happy to see the diversity of the fish we have found so far. It says good things about Mill Run. Many of the ones we found need to live in extremely clean environments,” said Freda Tarbell, DEP community relations coordinator.
The find indicates that “Mill Run contains a good, healthy aquatic community,” she said, with waters that are generally very clean. In fact, a species of sculpins and at least three species of darters that were found all require extremely clean environments to survive.
Anyone with information about the contamination problem is asked to call 332-6816.
Local News
400 dead fish found floating in Mill Run
- Local News
-
-
Conneaut Lake Park roars into 120th season
Conneaut Lake Park’s 120th season is officially under way with its in-keeping-with-tradition, four-day Memorial Day weekend opening, and the “crowds are coming in,” Jack Moyers said Saturday.
-
Area communities ready to celebrate Memorial Day
Editor’s note: The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are Monday, except those in Edinboro and Shermansville, which are planned for Sunday. -
Remembering Civil War Bucktails
A glimpse into daily life of the Civil War era is easy to see in Crawford County.
-
Area Memorial Day events
The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are on Monday, except the one at Edinboro that is planned for Sunday.
-
Civil War soldiers highlight Meadville Memorial Day events
A courageous Meadville man — wounded three times but remaining on a Civil War battlefield until he was too weak to continue — is being remembered this Memorial Day as the Meadville Area Memorial Day Committee continues its mission of observing the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States.
-
Police: Locals admit to killing Ohio woman
Two Cochranton women were arrested and jailed on homicide charges early Thursday after allegedly admitting they killed an Ohio woman and buried her body in a shallow grave near their residence recently.
-
Reader 'Faces' are coming in
Mom's car dash, Meadville, PA
Lucy Kedzierski, 12, looks at the face every morning waiting for school bus!
She took this with a cell phone. -
North Street Project sure to be 'very disruptive'
With the preliminary traffic control plan for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s North Street Project complete, Meadville City Manager Joe Chriest summed up the anticipated impact of the project, which is expected to span the entire 2013 construction season. “This is going to be very, very disruptive,” he said Wednesday.
-
Boat business booming in warm weather
It’s been a booming business in boats this spring, according to some area boat dealers.
-
City leaders not concerned after financial downgrade
During the past five years, Moody’s Investors Service has assigned three different ratings — all within the range of “upper medium grade” to the City of Meadville’s bonds. In 2007, the city was given a rating of A3, the lowest of the trio. In 2010, the city’s bond rating was raised to A1, the highest ranking in the “upper medium” category. Monday, Moody’s gave the city’s $10,000,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series of 2012, which went on the market Monday, the middle rating of A2.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
