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What began as a project by a high school chemistry teacher and his students to document water quality has developed, six years later, into a watershed association supported by dozens of partners with one goal—saving Anderson Creek.

“I always had a desire to see Anderson Creek cleaned up because it flows into the Susquehanna River and then into the Chesapeake Bay,” said now retired chemistry teacher Malcolm Barnes. “In the beginning, I talked to Trout Unlimited and would take some samples with school kids, that’s how we got started.”

“Now, I meet people like I did the other day on the street in Curwensville who came up to me and said, ‘I don’t know of anyone else who’s doing something to help the stream,’ and he gave me $100,” said Barnes.

Barnes serves as president of the Anderson Creek Watershed Association that last year received a $52,000 319 grant to do a complete assessment of the watershed. The Association has also taken on stream dosing and other projects to help educate the community about the problems and potential of Anderson Creek.

“The watershed is unique in several ways,” said Mark Killar from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s Watershed Assistance Center which is doing the assessment for Anderson Creek.

“The western half of the watershed was extensively mined for clay, but they ran into coal in many places and it was left a mess,” said Killar. “Discharges from the clay mines resulted in high levels of aluminum in the water and the water has a low pH from the coal.”

But, Killar explained, “the stream has a beautiful habitat, riparian zones and the in-stream cover is wonderful. If we could knock down the aluminum and raise the pH, we could bring the stream back to life.”

The watershed assessment will help the Association identify the priority discharges needing treatment and target future reclamation efforts when it’s completed later this year.

“We have 30 different water sampling sites that volunteers monitor monthly,” said Barnes. “We haven’t missed a month this winter.”

Part of the watershed assessment involved installing 12 water weirs to measure stream and abandoned mine discharge flows in Anderson Creek and its major tributaries to fill in the gaps from earlier water sampling efforts.

“Members of EASI (the Clearfield County Senior Environment Corps) helped install the weirs and with the water sampling,” said Barnes. “Their training really helped us.”

“One of our biggest jobs is public awareness,” explained Barnes. “We have to get the point across that water quality isn’t only important for itself-- it’s not just for the fish, but it’s also for drinking water.”

Anderson Creek feeds the DuBois water reservoir and serves as a backup water supply itself in times of drought.

One of the Association’s projects with the DuBois Watershed Commission and several townships involved putting up signs around the DuBois reservoir identifying it as a water supply area. The project was funded with a grant from the League of Women Voter’s Water Resources Education Network.

The Association also recently put posters in several stores in Curwensville with pictures showing how they are sampling water in the creek and where.

The Association’s early projects involved limestone dosing of two tributaries to Anderson Creek—Bigler Run and Kratzer Run. Dosing involves spreading limestone in and near the streams that will slowly dissolve over the course of a year to improve the pH of the water.

“The dosing helped improve water quality a lot, along with putting in a sewage plant on Kratzer Run,” said Barnes. “But it’s a temporary step.”

“What we hope to do is get some of the coal miners here interested in remining the old areas where there is still coal so they can reclaim those areas,” said Barnes. “If the Association can get the money for the limestone needed to treat the areas during reclamation, the miners can take the coal and any clay out.”

Barnes said an important part of their success has been developing a good network of partners.

“EASI, Janie French (Canaan Valley Institute), the Clearfield County Conservation District, Old Towne Sportsman’s Club, Central Counties Sportsmen, Curwensville Borough, Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Rails to Trails Association have all helped us,” said Barnes. “Businesses like Jim’s Sports Shop also helped by donating a rod and reel we are raffling off to raise money.”

“Before the Association, the attitude was the stream was so far gone it wasn’t worth cleaning it up,” said Killar. “Now the assessment is showing that it’s on the edge and could be brought back.”

Barnes summed up attitude toward his students and the Association this way, “I didn’t want the kids to go through what I did. I want to help things get better.” He pointed with pride to one of his students, who at age 63, is finishing up her Associates Degree in Chemistry, with a little tutoring from Barnes.

With people like Malcolm Barnes inspiring their students and their community to care about their watershed, the phrase “better living through chemistry” suddenly has a whole new meaning!

For more information, contact Malcolm Barnes, President of the Anderson Creek Watershed Association email: macandbetty@pennswoods.net or write PO Box 53, Curwensville, PA 16833 or call 814-236-2885.

3/4/2005