An environmental official said Sunday the loss of aquatic life in two tributaries from a coal sludge spill in eastern Kentucky is a “complete kill,” but reiterated that the Ohio River is not yet imperiled.

        Meanwhile, authorities overseeing containment of the 250 million gallon spill from Martin County Coal Corp. hope today brings the same thing Sunday brought: the right amount of rain.

        A trace sprinkle fell overnight Sunday in the region where the Sandy River meets the Ohio, near Ironton, Ohio. Even that amount helped dissipate the coal slurry that has entered the Ohio River, said David Altom, spokesman for Kentucky Emergency Management.

        “Rain is an element of the process,” Mr. Altom said. “The plume of sediment that is entering the Ohio is not discernible, so it's dispersing at such a thin level.

        “There is no visible gray water in the Ohio as a result of the slurry spill,” he said. “It's not affecting communities along the Ohio right now, so people in Cincinnati won't see anything.”

        Slurry is composed of coal dust, clay, water and chemicals used in coal mining.

        Heavy rains, however, could impede the cleanup effort closer to the source in Inez, Ky., about 45 miles south of Ironton. If the cleanup were slowed, more sludge could move downstream toward the Ohio.

        The Ironton/Huntington, W.Va. area is expected to get less than a quarter-inch of rain tonightand early Tuesday, said Phil Zinn, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, W. Va.

        “We had some pretty good thunderstorms into Greenup County (across the river from Portsmouth, Ohio), but that's ahead of the leading edge,” Mr. Zinn said. “We don't see anything that would increase the flow.”

        The Oct. 11 spill killed all fish and river life in Wolf Creek and the upper portion of Coldwater Fork, but officials don't know the extent of the kill because the water is so thick that dead fish haven't floated to the surface.

        Cleanup crews have pumped 4 million gallons of spill from those two tributaries from Saturday to Sunday evening, Mr. Altom said.

Pig roundup begins
Pig auction details
River resilient, but still in danger
Ohio River gets sludge reprieve
Candidates differ on Social Security
Ohio papers back Bush
Gun control issues stir readers' passions
Real-life numbers add up for students
Warren lagging in drug war
Group seeks resources for rare-illness
Entrepreneur uses business to help others
Tips for successful fund raising
Agency that helps kids turns 25
Assembly change worries most ex-governors
Charter-school advocacy grows fast in Dayton area
Experience vs. ideas in clerk race
Habitats win praise for bird life
Kentucky Digest
Lebanon might give bonuses
Local Digest
Meeting examines transit options
Results of our Sunday poll
Strickland stumps in lower-profile race
Teen house raises zoning questions
Township makes case for fire levy
You asked for it