Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005040608
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
But the color, which the state Water Control Board has attributed to heavy metals leaching into the creek from the old Allied Chemical plant site, is only one sign of pollution in the county's largest water resource.
Lake residents say they have seen everything from diapers to refrigerators floating in the lake, and they are joining forces to do something about it.
A meeting for citizens interested in the future of the lake has been scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Newbern Community Center.
"The government doesn't listen to just you or me, but a group of 100 people have a better chance," said Clarke Cunningham, a real estate developer who is trying to organize a citizens group to monitor pollution and other problems at the lake.
"We want to stop the carelessness - stop people from dumping - make people aware that they're responsible for what they do," Cunningham said.
Joyce Bruns, who lives near Claytor Lake State Park, said a picnic table recently washed up on her small beach.
"We need somebody to help clean it [the pollution] up," she said.
"It's getting too big for the homeowners."
Most of the debris takes the form of bottles and plastics, Bruns said, "but I've even picked up a syringe."
Cunningham said Monday's meeting will mostly be an informational exchange, but residents also will get a chance to discuss problems.
The main interest lately has been in the heavy metal content of the creek and lake, Cunningham said.
The Water Control Board has reports of metals leaching into the creek that date back to the 1970s.
"It just drug out," Cunningham said. "That's the main reason all this came to a head. If things were done in a timely fashion, we wouldn't be complaining."
Cunningham said he is afraid the problem could drag on for another 10 years if residents don't do something about it now.
"I've heard so many comments about how nasty the lake looks," he said. "Everybody should get behind this."
Vic Marcussen, a sanitarian with New River Valley health district, said he's fielded several calls from anglers and other people concerned about the metal content of the creek's sediments.
"We're getting calls from all over the place," he said.
The Water Control Board recently took a sampling of fish to see if the metals found along the creek's bottom were turning up in fish tissue.
The health department will analyze the results of the test when they are returned, probably sometime in the next week, Marcussen said.
"We're all just sitting here on pins and needles waiting for a report."
David Bailey, director of Virginia's office of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the metals probably will not harm humans but a few of them, particularly selenium, could affect aquatic life.
The Water Control Board has reported a lack of aquatic life on the creek where the metals are at their heaviest.
by CNB