and blew out and a lot of black water came down. The volume of water was just incredible,” said Wytovich. “It plugged up all the pipes in the bottom of the tanks and plugged up some of the other plumbing and everything turned black from the coal and silt that washed out of the mine.”
another flood blew out the intake and collapsed the mine opening from where the water discharged.
in order to do additional repairs and maintenance, so everything since then has been up in the air. “The good news is that the state is in the process of buying all the land at the headwaters. When that comes to pass, then the Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation has Audenried on a list of projects of streams to get a treatment system that would take care of the Catawissa Creek.”
“Thanks to guidance from the Schuylkill County Conservation District and FEMA and PEMA money, we did all the repairs to the best of our ability and put in another type of intake which should be as flood-proof as possible,” said Wytovich. “Unfortunately, issues arose about the rights to enter the property
The team pursued a FEMA grant and eventually worked to get the system back up and running in 2011, but
Raising awareness, fighting stereotypes
In the meantime, the CCRA and its partners continue to raise awareness and change negative views of the waterway, previously referred to as Sulphur Creek and Black Creek by locals. “The perception is changing now. I haven’t heard either of those names in quite some time,” said Wytovich. “Creeks in the coal region that flowed orange or had a bad smell were called Sulphur creek. Those with coal debris flowing down them were called Black creek. I think it is a great step psychologically that these creeks don’t have to be defined by their previous issues, but there instead is potential there to fix them up and that is what we see in Catawissa Creek – tremendous potential.”
VOTE HERE FOR CATAWISSA CREEK Reminder!
12
Powered by FlippingBook