Upper Guyandotte Watershed Association
Encyclopedia
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| Mission | Promoting a cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous watershed that is more attractive to all stakeholders and is better managed to withstand the impacts of flooding. |
| Established | December 2002 |
| Location | Mullens, West Virginia Mullens, West Virginia Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001... |
| Major Tributaries | Winding Gulf, Stonecoal Creek, Slab Fork Slab Fork The Slab Fork is a tributary of the Guyandotte River, long, in southern West Virginia in the United States. Via the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in a mainly rural area on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau.The... , Devils Fork, Barkers Creek Barkers Creek Barkers Creek is a tributary of the Guyandotte River, long, in southern West Virginia in the United States. Via the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in a rural area on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau.Barkers... , Pinnacle Creek |
| Homepage | www.ugwa.org |
The Upper Guyandotte Watershed Association (UGWA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation located in Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
. UGWA was founded in December, 2002 in response to the water quality problems that have negatively affected communities. It works from the headwaters of the Guyandotte River
Guyandotte River
The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans...
downstream from the mouth of Pinnacle Creek.
Service Area
This watershed area is situated in the Allegheny Plateau and encompasses the headwaters of the Guyandotte River downstream to the mouth of Pinnacle Creek, only a portion of the entire Upper Guyandotte basin (Hydrologic Unit Code 05070101). Stonecoal Creek and Winding Gulf rise in Raleigh CountyRaleigh County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 79,220 people, 31,793 households, and 22,096 families residing in the county. The population density was 130 people per square mile . There were 35,678 housing units at an average density of 59 per square mile...
and join to form the Guyandotte River just above the Raleigh-Wyoming county line, near Amigo. The Guyandotte River flows westerly through Wyoming County then flows northwesterly, eventually draining into the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
at Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...
.
Problems Facing the Watershed
The main problem facing the watershed is untreated househole sewage. UGWA conducted a watershed-wide study to determine the number of people without wastewater treatment. The study found that 66% of the residents in the watershed (over 5,000 homes) had no form of househole wastewater treatment. That meant that 66% of the people are either "straight piping", which is when all of their household wastewater enters a pipe that dumps directly into the stream, or have failing septic systems. This has led to large amounts of untreated household sewage in most of the streams throughout the watershed. The only municipal wastewater treatment facility in the watershed is located in Mullens and provides service to 23% of homes. 9% of the homes have a permitted septic system, leaving 66% with untreated wastewater.
Topography
The Upper Guyandotte watershed is 260 square miles (673.4 km²) in size and is heavily forested. The watershed includes portions of both eastern Wyoming CountyWyoming County, West Virginia
Wyoming County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,796. Its county seat is Pineville. Wyoming County was created in 1850 from Logan County and named for the Delaware Indian word meaning "large plains."-Geography:According to the U.S...
and southern Raleigh County
Raleigh County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 79,220 people, 31,793 households, and 22,096 families residing in the county. The population density was 130 people per square mile . There were 35,678 housing units at an average density of 59 per square mile...
, West Virginia and has a population of approximately 7,700. The landscape is rugged topography with steep hillsides and narrow valley floodplains. Many watershed communities are located in these valleys which are prone to flooding. Coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
and logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
are the major industries in the watershed.
Amigo Wastewater Project
The first wastewater project that UGWA began working on was at the mouth of Devils Fork in an unincorporated town called Amigo. The goal of the wastewater project is to provide wastewater treatment to the roughly 80 residents of both Amigo and J.A. Woods. With the help of the West Virginia Department of Environmental ProtectionDepartment of Environmental Protection
Department of Environmental Protection is a name used by several states in the United States of America for the agency charged with proposing and enforcing environmental law...
(WVDEP) and the engineering firm Anderson & Associates, the feasibility study has been completed and design is scheduled to begin shortly.
Stream Monitoring
A crucial aspect of improving water quality in the watershed, is UGWA's Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP). The LTMP relies on Volunteer Water Monitors to gather the data that allows UGWA to secure funding for wastewater and restoration projects.In addition to the LTMP, two Short Term Monitoring Programs (STuMPs) are implemented as well. The goal of the STuMPs is to monitor priority subwatersheds before, during, and after project implementation to gauge water quality improvement. Currently the subwatersheds with STuMPs in place are Winding Gulf and Devils Fork.
UGWA Events
UGWA hosts a variety of environmental education and cleanup events annually. The main events are the metals collection, the make it shine stream cleanup, and the watershed celebration day.Metals Collection
Every year since 2004, the Upper Guyandotte Watershed Association and the WVDEPDepartment of Environmental Protection
Department of Environmental Protection is a name used by several states in the United States of America for the agency charged with proposing and enforcing environmental law...
team up to sponsor the metals collection. UGWA hosted its fourth metals collection October 11-13th, 2007 with about 150 residents participating.