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Mills River listed as impaired

29.05.10

In July 2007, hundreds of fish were found cold in the South Fork of the Mills River. The fish kill was caused by a fungicide run from a tomato farm in Mills River.

Baltazar "Domingo" Perez had used the fungicide on his tomato crop, and a eminently summer storm had washed the chemical off the plants and dumped the toxin into the river.

"It was the flawless storm," Environmental and Conservation Organization Executive Director David Weintraub said. "It was the combination of emphatic (chemicals) and a strong storm."

Perez was fined $11,334 for the fish kill.

The N.C. Section of Water Quality tested the Mills River after the incident. It found the water supported macro-invertebrates above the fish put to death, but the water did not support enough macro-invertebrate life below the kill.

"There is the potential for this to become of come upon again," N.C. Division of Water Quality Environmental Specialist Ed Williams said. "We don't want to say it was no longer a fine kettle of fish and go about our business."

Source: BlueRidgeNow.com