Some waters in Clarion County run red, which is the color of acid mine drainage.
The drainage is the legacy of old mining practices that allowed iron to seep into the stream. The acid leaking from the mine can kill fish and destroy vegetation.
Pennsylvania is one of the largest coal producing states in the country, and 1.4 million Pennsylvanians live within one mile of an abandoned mine.
“We really don’t know the extent of the problem,” said Tricia Mazik, resource technician at the Conservation District. “There was extensive mining and not all of the mines are known.”
Another problem is funding.
“The remediation sites are very expensive,” said Mazik.
The Conservation District is working on three sites in the county — Little Coon Creek, Paint Creek, and the Clarion County Park near Shippenville.
The park was built on a reclaimed site that was mined in the 1970s and 1980s. An acid mine drainage site is adjacent to the park.
The Conservation District was awarded a grant by the state Department of Environmental Protection for an acid mine drainage treatment system overhaul at the park.
A passive treatment system was installed in 1991 but was later abandoned for more than 20 years. The system declined substantially because of neglect.
The subsurface acid mine drainage water is directed to flow through a buried, high-quality limestone bed to raise the pH level.
The limestone effluent will then flow into two serially connected settling ponds to remove metals and the outflow of the second pond will flow to a constructed wetland for polishing residual metals.
A passive system requires minimal maintenance, but iron oxide sludge needs to be cleaned out every 15-20 years. Mazik said the pond will be dredged this year.
Little Coon Creek, located at the southern tip of Game Lands 24 near the Leeper landfill, has an active acid mine drainage system.
And the Paint Creek project is another water quality project that the Conservation District is assessing.
A new problem comes from abandoned oil and gas wells that have been plugged. The plugged wells often force the water out somewhere else.
“That is in the future,” said Mazik. “It took a lifetime to create this problem and it will take a lifetime to remove it,” she added.
The Conservation District will host an educational event this fall at the county park to explain the impact of acid mine drainage and the remediation efforts. The date will be announced later this year.