Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 24, 1994                   TAG: 9412270060
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD                                  LENGTH: Medium

LITTLE RIVER WATER TESTING GRANTS AWARDED

The Skyline Soil and Water Conservation District and the National Committee for the New River received the grant which, along with an earlier $48,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, will help its members determine the extent of pollution along the Little River.

"This money will help us dig much deeper into what the real problems are in the watershed," said Van Anderson of the National Committee for the New River. "The earlier funding has showed that there is heavy potential for problems in this watershed."

The first grant helped pay for chemical water tests, Anderson said, meaning water was simply scooped out of the river and tested for pollution. The new tests, to be covered by the $18,000 grant, will involve a close examination of the insects living in the river.

"What we're going to do is develop a number of sampling sites in streams above and below selected farming areas to see if there is any sedimentation or nutrient loading in those areas," said Donald Cherry, the Virginia Tech professor who will help lead the study. "Where they're going to be yet, I don't know because we're still in the planning stages."

Cherry said insects are major indicators of the health of a stream or river.

"When there is sedimentation in an area, you can either smother the [insects] outright, remove their habitat, or physically impair the animal itself," Cherry said. "Either way all three are not good."

It's important not to panic and assume the river is highly polluted, Cherry said, because so far tests have only shown slightly high levels of fecal coliform and inorganic nitrogen. The river also shows a high level of sedimentation, meaning silt and sand from the river banks have settled into the riverbed.

A group of farmers and landowners along the Little River, known as the Little River Watershed Association, have joined in the effort.

The overall goal of the grant is to eventually have local people take over and direct the future of their own land, Anderson said. "After all, they're the people that live along the areas."

Anderson, Cynthia Hancock of the Skyline Soil and Water Conservation District, and landowners along the Little River are eager to begin working with Cherry.

"Dr. Cherry has ability to get really down and dirty with water quality testing," Anderson said. The chemical testing is good, but the benthic testing, which looks at the insect life and invertebrate life at bottom of stream, can make statements about the true condition of the water. We need to get to the bottom of what these streams are really like."

A meeting of the Little River Watershed association will be held Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.. in the Floyd Community Room in downtown Floyd. All landowners are invited.