Water Running Down Liberty Street. Photo by Rich Beam, DEP. Special Photo Feature Attached to this Story.

Families living in areas of Pennsylvania subject to mining before today's modern environmental laws too often have to put up with orange mine water, denuded hillsides and sudden, violent subsidence that can swallow houses.

Recently, the people of McDonald Borough in Allegheny and Washington counties experienced another trauma—a mine blowout, but this time, the project to eliminate the hazard resulted in a cooperative effort that should be a model for the future.

On January 25 water from the Nickel Plate Mine suddenly broke out of the mine on Liberty Street between North McDonald and Fannie Streets in McDonald. Abandoned in the 1930s, the mine slowly filled with groundwater that old timers remember breaking out into streams and at other locations over the years.

This time mine water blew out with force – 8,000-10,000 gallons per minute – a force greater than a fire hose.

Borough officials at first thought it was a water line break. Homes and businesses were flooded and had to be evacuated. A contractor looking for a pipeline break, uncovered the connection to the mine.

A team of local officials, Washington County Emergency Management, Department of Environmental Protection and federal Office of Surface Mining staff developed an initial emergency plan that directed the water into a stormwater catch basin. That first response was replaced within a day with pumps and piping that directed the water into Robinson Run, a tributary to Chartiers Creek.

To get a better idea of the geography of this incident, visit the McDonald Mine Water Breakout webpage maintained by DEP.

The federal Office of Surface Mining was able to fund the initial response to the emergency, but under OSM rules, funding would only be good through February 23, just 30 days after the blowout.

To develop a more permanent solution, DEP assembled a team of consultants with experience in dealing with mine water.

Environmentally Innovative Solutions, LLC was selected by DEP to bring the resources together for the design team headed by Rich Beam of DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

"A large pump running 24 hours a day in the street and having streets closed was really disrupting the community, so we knew we had to find a solution quickly," said Robert Dolence of EIS. "This was an emergency contract and we treated it that way working seven days a week."

A quick response project support was organized to deal with the issues surrounding the blowout that included: Dave Menke – construction, Rich Dolenc – mine pool and pump monitoring (and also Robert Dolence’s father), Bruce Leavitt – hydrologic review, McKay & Gould – drilling, Kehm Oil Company – fuel supply, Frantangelos Gardens – supplies, CRANE guy – site lifting, SPSI – emergency pumping, Whitney, Bailey, Cox and Magnani, LLC – structural engineering review, Riverside Builders Supply – Concrete and Poland Concrete Products, Inc. – Precast Concrete

The first step was to make sure the pumping would continue after the February 23 cutoff to avoid disrupting the community further.

"We were able to install a smaller pump that was quieter after taking some better measurements of the water coming out," said Dolence. "This helped deal with some of the immediate community impacts and reduced costs."

The design team began to look at old mine maps and drilled test wells in the area to install piezometers to measure groundwater to get a three dimensional picture of the mine pool.

The geologic and hydrologic investigations were spear headed by Margaret Dunn of EIS in close coordination with Rich Beam.

"There was some concern that we were taking too long to study the mine pool, but we knew we had to design a permanent solution not only for the immediate water discharge problem, but also with an eye to the future treatment options for the water," Dunn explained. "We also conducted response tests on the mine pool, including over-pumping and letting the water slowly rise over 24 hours to better understand the characteristics of the pool."

“We drilled 27 test holes many of them in the public streets of McDonald. This would not have been possible without the support of the local residents, McDonald Borough Council, PA One Call, and the expertise of our drilling contractor, McKay and Gould,” Dunn continued. “Everyone focused on getting the job done and helping in any way that they could.”

An important part of the project was keeping local officials and the community informed about the status of the design.

"Communicating with local residents and Mc Donald Borough Council, DEP with each of the other members of the design team, was a critical part of this project," said Dolence. "We needed to make sure we understood local concerns and needs and DEP's requirements."

A break came when the team looked at aerial photos of the area provided by DEP.

"Shaun Busler of EIS noticed some impoundments—actually ponds caused by beaver dams—about one-half mile from the blowout, but at the same level as the mine pool," said Dunn. "We did drilling in the area and found a hydrologic connection to the mine pool."

This connection allowed the design team to consider an option of providing a way to drain the mine using gravity and without a noisy, and expensive, pump and piping.

The time spent to document the mine pool had paid off.

It turned out the area considered for the gravity drain was on land owned by a subsidiary of one of the design team partners—Quality Aggregates—so landowner permission was not going to be a problem.

"We first constructed a sump at the site and a channel into Robinson Run, a stream already dead from mine contaminated water," said Dolence. "But, we had to be careful because draining too much water from the mine too quickly, could result in the collapse of the mine workings, and possibly homes with it."

At each step of the design process for the gravity drain, the work of the team was reviewed by independent engineers and hydrogeologists and the community. The group also hired a local contractor to take advantage of his knowledge of the area.

The final design was built around the sump the group originally constructed as well as risers (water observation and monitoring structures) at the original blowout site on Liberty Avenue and at a secondary overflow location which can be accessed from Miller Street.

"In just 90 days we were able to investigate the situation, develop and evaluate various options, design and construct a permanent structure that will help prevent this kind of catastrophe in McDonald in the future and a way to monitor the site to make sure everything is under control," said Dolence.

"DEP was a critical part of the process from the expertise of their people, to understanding how a small business like ours can partner with people of the community to complete a project both economically and quickly ," said Dolence. "In the past these kinds of projects were typically done piecemeal— drilling, design, and construction. Here, DEP did it differently because of the time constraints."

The project to develop and construct the gravity discharge cost about $400,000. The discharge itself is now running at about 1,000 gallons per minute.

The Nickel Plate Mine discharge is just one of dozens of mine discharges to the Robinson Run tributary of the Chartiers Creek watershed.

"With the immediate emergency out of the way, we can now take a look at treatment options for the water, like a passive system," said Dolence. "Chartiers Creek has a very active watershed group that is working to improve water quality and this gives them options for the future because the site for the gravity discharge has room to work."

Just four months, almost to the day, from the original blowout on January 25, the team working on the Nickel Plate Mine blowout developed a temporary, then permanent solution to a mine water problem that paralyzed part of McDonald Borough.

Working cooperatively, local and county officials, state and federal agencies and private consulting and construction firms developed solutions that not only dealt with the initial mine water flows, but gave the local watershed group options for the future.

Truly a win-win-win for everyone.

"We helped give the streets of McDonald back to the community," said Dolence. "This is one of the most gratifying jobs we've worked on because it solved a big problem that had a big impact on the daily lives of people in the community."

NewsClips: Fixing McDonald's Water Woes

Mine Water Still Flooding McDonald

Water from Abandoned Mine Threatens Homes

Attachment: Photos of the McDonald Blowout and Solution - PDF

6/24/2005