PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Gas Well Plugging Projects Featured On EPA Website

A gas well plugging project in Clarion County and an abandoned mine reclamation passive treatment system in Butler County are the latest projects to be featured as success stories on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website.

 

The site highlights projects from across the country where restoration efforts have greatly improved water quality with the help of EPA's Section 319 watershed restoration funding.

 

In 2006, DEP added a portion of Step Run in Clarion County to the Clean Water Action section 303(d) list of impaired waters due to low pH. The stream was degraded from highly acidic groundwater flowing up through abandoned oil and gas wells in the area, lowering the stream’s pH to below tolerable levels for many aquatic organisms.

 

With funding from two Growing Greener grants and an Alliance for Senior Involvement Grant, the Alliance for Wetlands and Wildlife and the Clarion County Conservation District plugged four wells along Step Run, removing the source of acidity and raising the average pH of the water to 6.7. The project resulted in the removal of the segment from the 303(d) list in 2008.

 

Abandoned mine drainage caused DEP to add a 2.3 mile section of Semiconon Run in Butler County to the state’s list of impaired waters in 2002. The abandoned mine causing the impairment was located on a property owned by Camp Lutherlyn. The camp offered to sponsor a project to design and build a passive treatment system to remediate the source. The system collects and directs the acid mine drainage to a settling pond, then to a wetland where it’s treated by vegetation and organi matter. The treated low is discharged through a limestone spillway before entering the stream.

 

The treatment facility serves as part of the camp’s enviornmetnal education program. Since the project was completed in 2004, more than 8,000 visitors each year have visted the center.

In 2008, DEP removed the affected segment from the list of impaired waters.

 

To view all the success stories, visit EPA’s Section 319 Success Stories website.