It may occur in areas adjacent to water such as willow beds and under flat rocks.

A current threat to the purple bean is a change in turbidity, increased suspended solids, and pesticides.

A big impact to the purple bean’s habitat is localized coal mining.

There have been five mine tailings pond spills from 1995 to 1999, one of which resulted in a major fish kill.

Chemicals that are found in coal fines such as polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs) are known to be toxic to mussels and fishes.