A bunch of years ago (12, to be exact) I visited the town of Chester, West Virginia.
Chester was one stop among many that year, including South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, and other places in West Virginia.
Chester stood out for its unexpected attraction: A freakishly beautiful neon-blue lake in which all trees and plant life were dead.
Chester, WV. Little Blue.
I later learned the lake was man made, and served as a settling pond for fly ash from a nearby power plant. The pond would become targeted by journalists and public officials as a health hazard.
After I posted my account of the lake I received many e-mails from people sharing their stories of Little Blue (oddly enough the area was known as “Little Blue” even before it was filled with blue water).
You can read the stories here, and look for a link to “Dangerous Disposal“, by Alyson Walls. Ms. Walls contacted me before writing that story, though I was never clear on why. Whatever the case it’s a strong story revealing the public health and safety hazards of the fly ash settling pond in Chester.
I revisited the story of Little Blue this week when Ian, writing from West Virginia, wrote to say that he had visited the site recently. He was sad to report that the lake is completely gone, and that no one would ever know it had been there without seeing the pictures.
Ian sought out the lake thinking it was a thing of beauty, and was thus disappointed to find it gone.
Alas, after doing some research on the lake he discovered that it may have been beautiful on the surface but ugly underneath. It even sounds like the dirt used to fill the lake is itself potentially contaminated.
Chester, WV. Little Blue Gone. Photo by Ian.
