U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet 050-99

August 1999

West Virginia

Streamflow-gaging stations 

equipped with telemetry for realtime data acquisition

Number of Federal flood-disaster

declarations 1967–1998

1–3

4–6

7–10

0 0 20 30 Miles

0 10 20 30 Kilometers

EXPLANATION

Figure 1. Flood declarations and realtime streamflow-gaging stations.

Introduction

The safety, health, and economic

well-being of West Virginia’s citizens

are important to the U.S. Geological

Survey (USGS). The USGS provides

products and information to help

others manage, develop, and protect

the State’s natural resources. USGS

centers are located in Charleston,

Leetown, and Morgantown, W.Va.

The USGS Charleston office provides

the information and understanding

needed for wise utilization and

management of the State’s water

resources. Hydrologic studies

throughout West Virginia describe

the occurrence, availability, and

physical, chemical, and biological

characteristics of surface water and

ground water.

The USGS Leetown Science Center,

established in 1931, is the oldest

Federal fishery research facility.

USGS personnel conduct integrated

research programs addressing the

needs of aquatic resource managers

and public policymakers. Examples

of these research programs include

the behavior of migrating fish affected by dams and barriers, control

and prevention of fish diseases,

development of water recycling

methods to reduce energy requirements, and identification of fish

populations by genetic structure.

The USGS West Virginia Cooperative

Fish and Wildlife Research Unit,

formed in 1986 at West Virginia

University in Morgantown, focuses

on the examination of environmental

concerns such as the effects of timber

harvesting on birds, stresses of acidic

water on aquatic species, habitat

requirements for fish, and the effects

of gypsy moth spraying. Graduate

education also is an important mission of the Unit.

These West Virginia-based centers, in

coordination with national USGS

programs, enable the USGS to build

strong, multidisciplinary teams that

can apply science for a changing

world. To serve the public better, the

USGS is concentrating its programs

under four major themes—Hazards,

Resources, Environment, and Information Management.

Hazards

Floods

Floods are among West Virginia’s

most frequent and costly natural

hazards in terms of human hardship

and economic loss. Federal flood

disasters have been declared at least

once in every county during the

period 1967–98, and as many as 10

times in some counties (fig. 1). The

USGS is helping to reduce flood

losses in West Virginia through

activities that provide flood-protection planning information and realtime warnings.

1
In cooperation with the West Virginia 

Division of Highways (DOH), the 

USGS is developing methods to 

estimate the frequency and magnitude 

of floods on streams. Information 

about the possibility of floods provides a basis for planning and proper 

design of structures to minimize 

repetitive flood impacts. Flood 

frequency and magnitude estimates 

will help DOH improve the design of 

roads and bridges, and will benefit 

the design and development of floodresistant communities, the daily 

operation of dams and reservoirs, and 

the development of disaster-preparedness plans. 

The USGS also is working with the 

West Virginia Office of Emergency 

Services, the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, and the National Weather 

Service to develop a floodwarning 

system to protect life and property 

during a flood. New streamflowgaging stations are being built on 

streams, and equipment is being 

added to many existing stations to 

allow for real-time transmission of 

water-level data. Currently (1999) 

telemetry equipment is installed at 98 

streamflow-gaging stations throughout West Virginia (fig. 1), 81 of which 

transmit data by way of satellite relay 

to USGS computers. These data are 

available on the World Wide Web at 

http://www-wv.er.usgs.gov/rt.html. 

This real-time system allows for more 

accurate flood forecasting, timely 

warnings, and vital information for 

flood management and disaster 

response. 

Sport Fish Consumption Advisories 

USGS researchers at the West Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife 

Research Unit are working with State 

agencies to develop a risk-based 

protocol for issuing fish consumption 

advisories in West Virginia. Sport-fish 

consumption advisories now in use 

are based on U.S. Food and Drug 

Administration guidelines, but these 

limits were developed for consumers 

who purchase commercially caught 

fish and seafood. The continued use 

of these guidelines could underestimate the fish consumption of subsistence sport fishermen and their 

families, and could put them at risk. 

The new protocol will be modeled 

after guidelines used in the Great 

Lakes area to alert sport fishermen of 

the risk of consuming contaminated 

fish. West Virginians who fish in 

areas of contamination will be 

provided a guide for determining 

limits on the amounts of fish that can 

be consumed safely. 

Drinking Water 

To help ensure that drinking water 

supplies are safe for human consumption, the USGS is working with the 

West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection Office of Water 

Resources to assess the quality of 

ground water from principal aquifers 

within the State. The USGS plans to 

sample water from 30 different wells 

(primarily public supply wells) 

annually during the next 5 years for 

analysis of a broad range of constituents including bacteria, trace metals, 

nutrients, common ions, volatile 

organic compounds, pesticides, and 

radon. After completion of water 

sampling, all available data will be 

analyzed to document the quality of 

ground water available from principal 

aquifers throughout the State. Additional water samples also are to be 

collected for analysis of chlorofluorocarbon and dissolved gas to determine the age of ground water within 

the aquifers in various regions of the 

State. The ground-water age data can 

be used to assess and define wellhead 

and source-water protection areas for 

public supply wells and springs. 

The USGS also is assisting the West 

Virginia Bureau for Public Health 

Office of Environmental Health 

Services by documenting techniques 

to determine if ground-water quality 

is directly influenced by surfacewater quality. The USGS also is 

documenting techniques for assessing 

the susceptibility of selected groundand surface-water supplies to contamination, and developing techniques to determine source-water 

protection areas. 

Resources 

Aquaculture Food and Marketing 

Development 

USGS researchers at the West Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife 

Research Unit and West Virginia 

University are partners in a U.S. 

Department of Agriculture project to 

evaluate aquaculture in the Appalachian Region. The project is intended 

to determine the effects of aquaculture stressors (ammonia, nitrite, 

dissolved oxygen, and others) on 

rainbow trout and to determine how 

these stressors affect the quality of 

fresh fillets and value-added products 

such as smoked fillets. Aquaculture 

production in West Virginia is smallscale because of limited water flow 

from coldwater springs and streams 

and from small farm ponds. Key 

constraints on aqua-culture growth in 

West Virginia and Appalachia include 

the lack of infor-mation about market 

potential, the costs of production and 

processing, variability in product 

quality and consistency, and risk 

factors associated with investing in 

aquaculture. The project is helping to 

develop marketing strategies for trout 

producers and processors and to 

increase the economic viability of 

trout-based aquaculture. 

Coal Resource Assessment 

Since 1993, the USGS, in cooperation 

with the West Virginia Geological and 

Economic Survey, has digitally 

science for a changing world 
modeled the most productive coalbeds in the Appalachian Basin. 

Resource-assessment models offer 

policymakers, land managers, and the 

public concise, geographically 

referenced data about the quality and 

quantity of original and remaining 

coal resources. Six coalbeds (Pittsburgh, Upper Freeport, Lower 

Kittanning, Fire Clay, Pond Creek, 

and Pocahontas No. 3) in the Appalachian Basin are being modeled. All 

six coalbeds are, in part, located in 

West Virginia. Data for each coalbed 

include estimates of original and 

remaining resources, stratigraphic 

and geochemical databases, geographic information system maps of 

elevation, thickness of coal and 

overburden, areal extent, and mined 

areas. Ash yield, sulfur content, 

calorific value, and potentially 

hazardous geochemical constituents 

such as arsenic, mercury, and lead are 

planned for future study. 

Natural Gas Investigations 

Natural gas occurs in sandstone, 

shale, and carbonate rocks in large 

continuous reservoirs that 

commonly contain very large inplace gas resources. These gas 

accumulations may be a future source 

of energy. The USGS studies in 

West Virginia are designed to determine the spatial distribution of these 

continuous gas accumulations, 

characterize the reservoirs, identify 

the geologic reasons for these gas 

accumulations, and develop methods 

to assess poorly defined or unrecognized continuous gas accumulations elsewhere in the United States. 

USGS efforts are focused on natural 

gas accumulations of regional 

dimensions. 

Underpressured thermogenic gas 

(formed from buried organic matter 

by the natural heat of the earth) in 

low-permeability sandstone rocks is 

located, in part, in western West 

Virginia. This reservoir, which 

extends throughout much of the 

Appalachian Basin, may contain 

several tens of trillions of cubic feet 

of natural gas, much of which may be 

recoverable. 

Coalbed methane (CBM) is becoming 

an increasingly important source of 

unconventional natural gas in West 

Virginia and the Nation. As part of a 

larger USGS investigation to increase 

understanding of this energy resource, existing sources of CBM in 

the northern and central Appalachian 

Basin are being evaluated. USGS 

efforts are intended to quantify, map, 

and model sources of CBM and may 

include desorption tests, production 

data, and coal stratigraphy. 

Hydrocarbon Exploration 

Most of southern West Virginia and 

parts of neighboring States are 

located in a relatively deep foreland 

structural basin near the junction of 

the central and southern Appalachians. The basin is one of the few 

remaining areas of the Appalachian 

Plateau that has not been extensively 

tested for hydrocarbons even though 

it is near potential shale source rocks 

in eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. A new USGS project is 

planned to investigate several topics 

to improve the assessment of potential hydrocarbon resources in the 

deeper, generally unexplored parts of 

the Central Appalachian Basin. 

Environment 

Contaminated Mine Drainage 

A cooperative study by the USGS and 

the West Virginia Geological and 

Economic Survey is developing 

information for the entire coalbearing sequence of rocks in West 

Virginia. Development of improved 

methods to predict, mediate, and 

mitigate contaminated coal-mine 

drainage requires an understanding of 

the geochemistry of coal-bearing 

strata. Geological, geophysical, and 

geochemical logging of well cores 

and core holes is defining stratigraphic variations in the geochemistry of specific stratigraphic intervals 

and is defining those intervals that are 

prone to drainage problems. 

Stream Restoration 

Acidic, metal-laden drainage from 

abandoned coal mines is common in 

Appalachia, and has had substantial 

effects on aquatic resources (fig. 2). 

The cost of correcting acidic mine 

drainage-related problems in Appalachia with currently available technolFigure 2. Stream affected by acidic 

mine drainage. 

ogy is estimated at $5–$15 billion. 

Research by the USGS has resulted in 

the development of a new treatment 

technique to assist in stream restoration. This new technology integrates 

fluidized-bed reactors with carbondioxide adsorption and desorption 

steps to circumvent problems that 

currently limit the effectiveness of 

limestone as an acid-neutralizing 

reagent (fig. 3). The USGS is workWest Virginia 
Figure 3. Apparatus developed for 

stream restoration. 

ing with the National Park Service, 

the Freshwater Institute, and others to 

field test the technology and to 

determine the effects of the treatment 

process on acid-sensitive aquatic 

invertebrates and fish. Studies also 

are planned to identify improved 

methods for heavy-metal separation 

and sludge thickening. 

Information Management 

Digital Map Information 

Since 1995, the USGS has awarded 

West Virginia University grants to 

develop geographic information 

system (GIS) databases for the State 

within the Federal Geographic Data 

Committee (FGDC) planning framework. The framework is a collaborative effort to create a widely available 

source of basic geographic data. West 

Virginia University will maintain a 

clearinghouse computer to distribute 

GIS datasets for West Virginia. The 

most recently awarded FGDC 

framework project, “Building the 

Foundation for a Fully Operational 

Framework for West Virginia,” will 

develop a users’ group for hydrography and image products and a plan 

for long-term database maintenance. 

West Virginia University is collecting can be a component in geographic


and disseminating GIS digital line information systems. The DOQ’s


graphs from USGS 1:24,000-scale may be used for the Mineral Lands


topographic quadrangle maps. This Mapping Program and for political,


effort includes data in four categories: economic, and environmental plan-


hydrography, transportation, topo- ning.


grapy, and boundaries. Hydrography,


topography, boundary, and transporta­


tion data have been completed for Earth Science Information


approximately 150 of the 450 quad­


rangles in the State. The West Virginia Geological and


Economic Survey cooperates with the 

Digital orthophoto quadrangles USGS to provide an Earth Science 

(DOQ’s) for the southern part of the Information Center (ESIC) as a local 

State are being produced using 1996 resource for obtaining information 

and 1997 leaf-off color-infrared aerial about the publications and products 

photographs through a cooperative of the USGS and State agencies. The 

partnership of the USGS and the West ESIC can provide information about 

Virginia Geological and Economic historical maps, aerial photographs, 

Survey. A DOQ combines the image flood-prone area maps, and thematic 

characteristics of a photograph with maps for coal and mineral resources. 

the scale accuracies of a map, and it 

USGS office locations USGS State Representative 

The USGS has 117 11 Dunbar Street 

employees in West Virginia	 Charleston, WV 25301 

(304) 347-5130 

FAX (304) 347-5133 

USGS Home Page 

http://www.usgs.gov 

Reports and products Leetown 1-888-ASK-USGS 

Charleston 

Morgantown 

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