By Jordan Howes, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy 

Clean, healthy water is one of West Virginia’s greatest natural resources, and protecting it requires water-quality standards that keep pace with science. As the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) begins its triennial review of the state’s water-quality standards, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is supporting recommendations from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and its member organizations to strengthen protections for West Virginia’s streams and rivers. 

The West Virginia Rivers Coalition submitted comments to DEP on Aug. 3 outlining seven major issues that should be considered as the state develops revisions to its water-quality standards for the 2028 legislative session. The recommendations are based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance, recent scientific research and developments in DEP programs. 

One of the recommendations calls for DEP to develop water-quality standards for conductivity to protect aquatic life. Conductivity measures the ability of water to conduct an electrical current and can indicate elevated concentrations of dissolved ions. DEP already recognizes that ionic toxicity can have significant impacts on aquatic life and is developing total maximum daily loads to address the issue in tributaries of the lower Guyandotte River basin. The EPA has also developed a conductivity benchmark for protecting aquatic life in Central Appalachian streams and rivers outside karst regions. Establishing a statewide water-quality standard would provide DEP with another important tool for protecting aquatic ecosystems. 

The coalition also recommends that West Virginia adopt the EPA’s recommended water-column criterion for selenium. EPA revised its recommended selenium criterion for aquatic life in 2016, including monthly average exposure levels for both still-water and flowing-water ecosystems. The coalition notes that fish-tissue concentrations are important when evaluating selenium contamination, but they may not provide reliable protection in locations where a new source of selenium has not yet reached equilibrium with fish tissue. Adopting the EPA’s recommended water-column criteria would provide an additional layer of protection for aquatic life. 

The recommendations also address pollutants that can affect human health. The coalition is asking DEP to incorporate additional EPA Priority Pollutants into West Virginia’s water-quality standards. DEP added five additional human-health criteria to its standards in 2025, a decision supported by West Virginia Rivers Coalition. The coalition is now recommending that 24 more Priority Pollutants be regulated. These include chemicals such as acrolein, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds that can pose significant health risks. Importantly, the coalition points out that pollutants do not necessarily respect state boundaries. Chemicals originating in neighboring states can affect West Virginia residents, particularly along the Ohio River floodplain, where surface water and groundwater are strongly connected. 

The coalition’s recommendations also recognize the importance of protecting West Virginia’s wild trout streams. It is calling for DEP to develop watershed-based trout water designations rather than relying on individual stream segments. Wild trout are important ecologically, culturally and economically, and both the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the Monongahela National Forest recognize their importance. The coalition argues that trout populations are influenced primarily by processes occurring across entire watersheds, making watershed-level designations more appropriate for monitoring and protection. For an organization dedicated to protecting the highlands and watersheds of West Virginia, this approach makes particular sense. Healthy trout populations depend on healthy watersheds, not simply isolated sections of individual streams. 

Another recommendation focuses on ammonia, for which the coalition is asking DEP to revise its water-quality standards based on updated scientific research. In 2022, EPA recommended that DEP update its standards based on new research into ammonia toxicity, particularly its effects on sensitive freshwater mussels and gilled snails found in West Virginia. The coalition supports retaining DEP’s existing framework, which recognizes the relationship between temperature, pH and the conversion of less-toxic ammonium into toxic ammonia. Instead, it recommends updating the numeric criteria using the latest information on species sensitivity. 

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are another growing concern addressed in the recommendations. The coalition recommends that DEP develop water-quality standards for PFAS to protect human health. West Virginia’s PFAS Protection Act requires the state to adopt federal maximum contaminant levels for public water systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. At the same time, many West Virginia public water systems do not remove PFAS from raw water. Establishing water-quality standards for PFAS would help protect source waters and could assist municipal water systems in meeting forthcoming federal drinking-water requirements. 

Finally, the coalition is asking DEP to strengthen scientific integrity within the rules governing water-quality standards. Scientific integrity is essential to effective environmental protection. The coalition notes that recent legislative sessions considered proposals that could have restricted state agencies’ ability to use the best available science when developing and implementing water-quality standards. Although those proposals were rejected, the coalition believes similar proposals could return in future legislative sessions. The recommendation is straightforward, DEP’s rules should explicitly require the use of the best available science, including peer-reviewed research and reports from technical experts. 

Water-quality standards may sound technical, but they have very real consequences for the streams, rivers and communities of West Virginia. They determine how pollutants are regulated and provide an important foundation for protecting aquatic life and human health. 

The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy supports efforts to ensure that these standards reflect the best available science and provide meaningful protection for the state’s waters. Strong water-quality standards help protect the places we hike, fish, paddle and enjoy — and, just as importantly, the water resources on which West Virginia communities and ecosystems depend.