Article & Podcast by John Zaktansky, Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association
Images compliments of Columbia County Conservation District's Aaron Eldred, ECAMR's Bobby Hughes and Steve Cornia and CCRA's Ed Wytovich.
have been working to achieve that goal, coordinating successful treatment of two of the othermine tunnel discharges and attempting a similar project on the Audenried in the past.
A second mine tunnel, Oneida 3, has also been successfully treated with a passive system.
“Initially we had access to limestone sand at a great price and the Army National Guard provided transportation to bring it up. They were very enthusiastic and doing a great job, but due to world events at that time, it just didn’t work out,” said Wytovich. Considering the success at Oneida 1, a similar treatment system on a much larger scale was pursued for Audenried. It included large concrete tanks where water was run through a system of pipes through the limestone to be neutralized and then through a series of settling ponds where the aluminum could settle out before the water was discharged back into the stream. “In the fall of 2005, we got that up and running through a series of grants and it had really good effects. It brought the pH up to between 6 and 6.5 and was precipitating out quite a bit of the aluminum,” said Wytovich. “We had a dedication in the June of 2006, with a lot of people coming out to see what was going on.”
“It consists of a large concrete tank about 120 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep which is filled with limestone,” said Wytovich. “Water is diverted from the tunnel through the system and comes out with a pH around 6.5 and aluminum levels much more reasonable. These two systems are working.” With the Oneida 1 and 3 tunnels treated and negligible impacts from the Catawissa and Green Mountain tunnels, the Audenried is the only discharge standing in the way of the Catawissa Creek reaching its potential. “The discharge averages around 8,500 gallons per minute of water – so it is a good flow. The pH is sometimes down in the high-3s, like a 3.8, to a 4.3 on better days,” said Wytovich. “It is an Anthracite area with a fairly high aluminum content which is toxic to fish and pretty much everything else in the stream.”
One of those tunnels, Oneida 1, is in the Eagle Rock development near Hazleton.
“That dischargehas a pH that is normally a little over 4 to 4.5 and carries some aluminum and a negligible amount of iron. We put a project there in 2001 that has six beds of limestone that the mine water is fed through and it comes out with an average pH of 6.5, which is about ideal for brook trout,” said Wytovich.
Unfortunately, 10 days later, a flood caused massive damage to the system.
Efforts to treat the Audenried have historically hit unexpected hurdles.
“It seemed that the mine backed up
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