Hunterdon fishing brook improving days after detergent spill

Just days after a fishing stream in Hunterdon County was contaminated by liquid laundry detergent killing hundreds of fish, environmental officials say the foaming has started to dissipate and the adjacent river has been stocked with more than 5,500 fish.

The West Portal Brook, which feeds into the Musconetcong River, was flooded with detergent early Thursday after water used by firefighters to extinguish a tractor-trailer fire on Route 78 in Union Township left the brook in a mess of soapsuds.

According to Larry Hajna, spokesman for the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, the soap that washed into the brook changed the pH level of the water, killing off at least 1,100 fish including brown trout, sculpin, black-nose dace and an assortment of other fish as well as amphibians.

Hajna said the combination of rain and the brook flowing into the Musconetcong have helped to dilute the detergent. As of Monday, the DEP observed a decrease in the suds in the waterway as well as fewer dead fish. The spokesman said the agency noticed several black-nosed dace at the confluence between the brook and the river, but it's possible that they were just washed downstream.

The Musconetcong Watershed Association has also been monitoring the situation since the detergent spill. Spokeswoman Beth Styler Barry said there's been an improvement in recent days in the brook.

"What we’ve observed is definitely an improvement in the situation, specifically with the amount of foam," Barry said.

She said members of the association have taken trips up and down the waterway, speaking with anglers downstream of the spill and none of them have reported any additional dead fish since the spill first occurred.

Barry said in a recent post on the association's Facebook page that members of the group paddled along the waterway and noticed that "the odor of soap and excessive foaming dissipated almost immediately below the confluence" where the West Portal Brook and the Musconetcong River meet.

According to Hajna, although the spill was very detrimental to the aquatic life in the West Portal Brook, the situation should continue to improve and the long-term impact shouldn't be as bad as a situation such as an oil spill.

"The number of dead fish is fairly significant," Hajna said. "Anything like this is certainly going to have short-term impacts, but if it flushes out of the brook and dilutes, it's just going to be a matter of time for fish and animals to re-establish. It’s not like an oil spill where it going to cling to surfaces."

Hajna said the Musconetcong River was stocked Friday with 5,500 trout, many of which will eventually be caught by people fishing along the river. So far, he said, the fish appear to be fine. Barry said the DEP's decision to restock the river was a good one.

"As far as the trout, I think they made the right decision by doing that," Barry said. “We haven’t seen any mortality of those stocked fish.”

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.