New Boggs Road Mine Drainage Treatment Facility

The first of several abandoned mine drainage remediation facilities to be established under the sponsorship of the Montour Run Watershed Association in western Allegheny County was dedicated on September 30.

The new facility is located on the property of Keith and Mary Kropf at 121 Boggs Road, Findlay Township.

Speakers featured at the dedication include Sen. John Pippy (R-Allegheny), Chairman of Findlay Supervisors Tom Gallant, and officials of state and federal agencies involved in the project.

Construction of the Boggs Road Mine Drainage Treatment Facility is an outgrowth of the Montour Run Watershed Assessment and a Cleanup Plan Project performed under MRWA sponsorship and funded by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Growing Greener Program.

Conducted in the 2001-2004, the assessment project sought to identify environmentally harmful discharges of contaminated groundwater from abandoned coal mines in the 37-square-mile Montour Run Watershed. It included a year-long program of monthly sampling of these discharges, leading to recommendations for treatment approaches for the most damaging.

The Boggs Road discharge ranked high in the list and was cited as the predominant pollution source of the South Fork of Montour Run due to significant dissolved iron.

The scope of the Boggs Road project included the siting, design, permitting and construction of a three-quarter acre aerobic wetland passive treatment system. The facility includes two detention/settling ponds plus a storage pond for precipitated iron sludge.

A volunteer work session is scheduled for October 8 to do wetland plantings to help in stabilizing the soil. (Call 412-835-4033 for more information.)

The remediation system will positively impact about 2.5 miles of tributary stream and 12 miles of the main trunk of Montour Run. An estimated 3.5 tons per year of iron compounds entering Montour Run from this site alone will be eliminated.

The resulting improvement in water quality will go far toward improved survival of fish and the aquatic life forms that support them in the main trunk of Montour Run. In addition, the wetlands habitat has been expanded and enhanced, increasing the potential for wildlife utilization.

"The Montour Run Watershed Association has done an outstanding job of developing this project and soliciting a lot of local support, both public and private," said DEP Project Advisor Ron Horansky. "It takes time, money and a group of dedicated volunteers like the MRWA in order to have a successful mine drainage remediation project."

The $117,736 funding for the Boggs Road project included $47,766 from the DEP’s Growing Greener Program and $54,000 from the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative of the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining.

Matching cash, goods, and services valued at $15,970 were provided by the prime contractor, Stream Restoration Incorporated, and its partners Aquascape, BioMost, Inc., G&C Coal Analysis Lab, Imperial Land Corporation, Quality Aggregates Inc., McClymonds Supply and Transit Co., Inc.

“What is tremendously exciting is the positive environmental impact this partnership effort has made,” said Tim Danehy, system designer. “The untreated water has very high levels of iron, up to 89 mg/l. At the first sampling event, the system was removing over 99 percent of the iron. This is a testament to the positive impacts a dedicated group can have.”

"The project looks real nice and is obviously doing a good job of cleaning up the water," stated property owner Keith Kropf. “From our perspective, Stream Restoration and its partner organizations have been outstanding performers,” said Stan Sattinger, Boggs Road project manager for the MRWA. “Despite a lot of unfavorable weather, they have completed the entire scope of work on time and within budget.”

The MRWA is a 501(c)(3) incorporated non-profit, chartered in 2000, which seeks to protect and improve water resources in the Montour Run Watershed. The Boggs Road Mine Drainage Treatment Facility is the first of three abandoned mine drainage treatment facilities for the Montour Run Watershed whose design and construction are fully funded to date.

Other projects in the planning or construction stages include the Clinton Road Mine Drainage Treatment Project and the North Fork Montour Run Restoration Project. One additional project, the Wilson School Mine Drainage Treatment Project, was also proposed for funding earlier in 2005.

These projects will partially implement the River Conservation and Land-Use Plan for the Montour Run Watershed established in 1998 by the Montour Valley Alliance, forerunner coalition to the MRWA.

For more information, visit the Montour Run Watershed Association website.

10/7/2005