My favorite spring creek in distress

[pillcaster]

For the last week, my fav spring creek, which is normally gin clear, has looked like chocolate milk. I fished it wednesday, hoping for some dry opportunities, and it was very muddy, but I had great luck with streamers. But it still has not cleared and we have been very dry. The amount of silt is incredible, originating at the spring and reaching all the way to the mouth, where it is staining that river. I have talked to some landowners, and they have no idea and do not recall a similar occurance, and have told me it is not this muddy during high water. Some have blamed unidentified construction in the area, but the sheer volume and consistant flow, to me, that seems unreasonable. A collapse in the aquafer has also been suggested. I'm sure there's no action we can take to stem this, but I am curious if anyone in FAOL land may have had experience with this type of phenomenon.

[flyfishfairwx]

In the right areas I would call this "Run Off" Not the case here I think, you may want to take a walk or drive, UP STREAM and find where it starts. That maybe the only way to tell for sure!

[soloman]

Sounds like a great research project for a college class. Hydrology or geology dept, Maybe biology?

[kglissmeyer]

My favorite spring creek runs close to the Snake River, and, when they crank the river outflow up, the spring will sometimes run high and murky even though there is no inflow from the main river. Appears to be water table related. It usually takes about three weeks to get back to normal as far as clarity, and about a month and a half to get the level back down to normal. Go figure.

Kelly.

[flyguy66]

Spring creeks can be tricky because springs can run subterranean for a long way and not in anything resembling a straight line or even down-grade from a surface perspective. The only way to tell the source of a spring is with a die test. And that only works when they're running fairly clear (normal). Some of the suggested causes listed above are insightful. There are a few more. Mining could be a cause. Streambed gravel mining in the watershed upstream of your spring could cause it. So could horrendous runoff from development (which would probably be in violation of EPA regulations). Subterranean collapses are a real possibility as well. But these types of things are always real head-scratchers on spring creeks, part of the charm of which is their mystery anyway.

[CaseyP]

look for new wells in the area, or any deep drilling. like for gas...

[pillcaster]

An answer to my question from our local fly shop: http://www.mossycreekflyfishing.com/...onditions.aspx
Spring Creeks: UPDATE! Joel Maynard from our local DEQ has solved the Beaver Creek puzzle! The water that fills the aquifer that feeds Beaver Creek comes directly from Dry River. Around Clover Hill and Lily, Dry River goes completely underground and fills more than a 2 mile underground cavern that holds the water for Beaver. It takes 8.5 days for water to travel from Dry River to the spring head at Beaver Creek. The swallow hole that sucks the water down into the aquifer in Dry River has been clogged and 2 new holes have opened up at the entrance to the aquifer. This is a completely natural occurrence. Apparently this occurred 20 years ago along Dry River. Think of an aquifer as an underground cavern shaped like a complex honeycomb. There are tunnels, caverns, and many holes, one of the original holes has clogged and now the water is entering through new holes. Now we sit back and wait for the silt, that has been clogging these veins for 100's or thousands of years to clear up. This may take another couple days or a few weeks. We really don't know. What we do know is the fish seems to be surviving this phenomenon alright.

[soloman]

Glad you got an answer. Hope everything clears up quickly.

[pillcaster]

The below is from our local fly shop re the spring creek I have been posting about - I find this whole process pretty fasinating, hope others find it interesting.

MORE NEWS!- It appears the JMU geologists have found that a sinkhole collapse caused the original swallow hole to close completely. Unfortunately this sinkhole appears to be getting bigger. As more earth sinks we could possibly see a disaster on Beaver Creek. Worst case scenario....Beaver Creeks water supply is shut off from a collapse causing the creek to run dry! This occurrence has gotten the attention of some excellent scientists and it appears they will be studying this area in great detail. We will post as soon as we have quality public information or a press release available.

his is the 'swallow hole' in Dry River that sucks all the water into the Beaver Creek Aquifer. Cracks along the North River Fault line create holes and tunnels that 'steal' water from Dry Rivers streambed. This is why Dry River is called DRY RIVER. It goes completely dry in spots because of the water loss to the underground aquifer. This type of geology is know as stream piracy. Beaver Creek would not exist if it weren't from these holes in Dry Rivers stream bed.

This is the spring source for Beaver Creek and what it currently looks like.http://www.mossycreekflyfishing.com/...onditions.aspx

[MrFishingToughGuy]

Worst case scenario we won't be able to fish it Mon-Sat as well. But think of the $$$ we'll save!

Kidding aside, my understanding of this patricular scenario is that Beaver wiill eventually clear, though it looks more like Mossy with all that sediment in it. Just gotta sit back and watch as mother nature figures things out.