The single largest abandoned mine drainage pollution source in the Quemahoning Creek watershed, Somerset County will be eliminated in the next several weeks when the Boswell AMD treatment system is brought online.

The construction of the Boswell AMD Passive Treatment System now underway through a contract with Commonwealth Stone will lead to the elimination of over 170,000 pounds of iron contamination into the stream that has destroyed aquatic life and degraded the Quemahoning Reservoir’s water quality for nearly a century.

A partnership of organizations made this project possible, starting with the local level through Jenner Community Sportsmen’s Club, the Mountain Laurel Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Somerset County Conservation District and the Southern Alleghenies Resource Conservation and Development Council and state and federal agencies-- the Department of Environmental Protection, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the federal Office of Surface Mining.

Phase I of the project consisted of the relocation of Beaverdam Creek, that had previously entered the wetland, in order to eliminate good quality water from mixing in with the AMD in the project site wetland. That phase was completed in late 2002.

Phase II, now under construction, consists of recontouring the existing wetland in order for the net alkaline discharge AMD laden water to circulate and increase its time in the wetland allowing the iron to settle out and remain in the wetland with clean water exiting back into Quemahoning Creek.

(contributed by Len Lichvar, Stream Improvement Chairman for the Mountain Laurel Chapter of Trout Unlimited)

10/15/2004