Media coverage

• Teams Working to Improve Opequon: Studies Show that Residents Believe Environment there is in Decline, By Naomi Kimble, Journal Staff Writer, The Martinsburg Journal, January 11, 2006
• Survey Seeks Input on Creek, The Martinsburg Journal, Wednesday, August 31, 2005 (photo from the newspaper)
• Survey Targets Opequon Cleanup, The Winchester Star, Friday, August 19, 2005 (available by free subscription)

Watershed tour:

• WV side pictures
• VA side pictures
• Opequon Watershed Map

Links to Watershed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) information:

• Virginia Tech Center for TMDL and Watershed Studies
  
  
• Virginia Tech TMDL Implementation Plan Forum
  
  
• Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
  
  
• West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
  
  

Opequon creek starts in Virginia and flows north through West Virginia, into the Potomac River. Abrams Creek is a major tributary of Opequon Creek (map). In both states, Opequon Creek and some of its tributaries, including Abrams Creek, are listed as impaired due to fecal coliform bacteria and benthic / biological impairments. According to state and federal laws, a total maximum daily load (TMDL ) is a written plan that specifies the maximum amount of pollution that a creek, like Opequon, can receive and still be considered clean. A set of TMDL plans has been approved for the Virginia (VA) part of the Opequon watershed and is under development for the West Virginia (WV) part (please, find more information about Virginia TMDL and West Virginia TMDL ).

Implementation plan development follows the approval of a TMDL. One of the necessary parts of the implementation plan is estimation of the benefits from water quality improvement, which is the focus of the current project.

The benefits were estimated using the contingent valuation (CV) survey method. CV surveys simulate markets for non-marketed goods by describing hypothetical changes in these goods (e.g., improvement in stream water quality) and asking people how much they would be willing to pay for such improvements (references).

As a part of the Opequon Creek survey, watershed residents were asked about: (A) their use and knowledge of selected creeks and their opinions about local environmental quality, (B) a proposed hypothetical project that would clean-up Opequon Creek, and (C) their socio-economic characteristics.

The survey was distributed to 2500 households in the West Virginia portion of the Opequon watershed, and to 2300 households in the Virginia portion. The team also mailed out approximately 200 surveys to an acquired list of riparian landowners on the Virginia side of Opequon creek.

The mailing was handled by the private contractor Custom Pack N Ship, and household addresses were not known by the researchers. All survey information gathered is kept confidential. The only data released to the public is in a form where individual responses cannot be identified.

The analysis of survey responses was completed in May 2006. The results of the analysis were integrated into the Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Plan for Opequon and Abrams Creeks in Virginia (download).

A comprehensive description of the study and results can be found in:
Benson, M. C. (2006). An Economic Valuation of Improved Water Quality in Opequon Watershed, Master's Thesis, West Virginia University. ( download ).
A study summary is also available in WVU Extension Publication here

The project results were presented at two scientific conferences:

The up-dated study results will also be presented at the American Agricultural Economics Association Meeting (July 23-26, Long Beach, CA).