Clarion County Commissioners purchased property Tuesday that they hope will remedy a “failed” acid mine drainage project.
The county purchased a parcel in Paint Township from the Shirley C. Hager trust for $10,412.75. The property is adjacent to the Clarion County Park.
Commissioner Ted Tharan said the acid mine drainage reclamation project at the site had failed.
The site has two small ponds that will be merged into a 10,000 square foot pond, according to commissioner Wayne Brosius. The ponds drain into an unnamed tributary of the Clarion River.
In July 2018, the county announced plans for the Acid Mine Drainage (ADM) work at the former Glacial Minerals strip mine.
The current system was installed in 1999, and a wetland channel was installed to have the metals drop out on the wetland channel. The channel clogged, breached the ditch, and killed trees on neighboring properties.
Grants have been awarded for a passive treatment system that would remove metals and raise the pH of the water. Subsurface AMD water is directed to flow through a buried, high-quality limestone bed to raise pH.
Passive systems require minimal maintenance, but iron oxide sludge needs to be cleaned out every 15-20 years.
Funding for the $102,000 AMD work came from several sources including a Growing Greener grant, the Clarion County Conservation District, Clarion County, and the Department of Environmental Protection.