The Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Department of Environmental Protection are looking at the potential of treated mine water to provide make up water for agricultural operations in times of drought.

In 1992 the Susquehanna River Basin Commission suspended the application of its consumptive water use regulations to agricultural operations in the basin to look for options to provide about 15.7 million gallons a day of make up water in the Pennsylvania portion of the basin.

An early option looked at increasing water storage in the George B. Stevenson Reservoir in Cambria County, but at a cost of $43 million.

Through some discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection, SRBC staff learned about a mine water treatment project DEP is planning at the abandoned 15,000 acre Barnes and Tucker Lancashire #15 deep mine in Cambria County.

DEP is developing a project there to replace the 30-year old pumps and treatment facility because of its age, operational expense and inefficiency in treating the water. Barnes and Tucker went bankrupt in 2001 and left the operation of its mine treatment systems in the hands of DEP.

Prior to mining, approximately 70 percent of the area drained to the Ohio Basin (Blacklick Creek) and approximately 30 percent drained to the Susquehanna Basin. Upon completion of mining and closure of the mine, the pool began to fill to the point where it eventually broke out into the headwaters of the West Branch Susquehanna River in the early 1970’s.

This breakout caused a massive fish kill in a 40 mile stretch of the West Branch. Subsequently, Barnes and Tucker constructed pumping and treatment facilities on the Blacklick Creek side of the mine complex and pumped and treated the mine pool, with a discharge to Blacklick Creek. Without pumping, the pool would again breakout and discharge to the West Branch.

The proposal by DEP will reduce pumping costs by discharging to the West Branch. DEP will construct a new 10 million gallon per day treatment facility at a cost of from $5 to $9 million to build.

DEP will use federal mine reclamation funds to construct the facility. SRBC is requesting a state appropriation of $3.9 million to help finance a trust fund to provide for the operation and maintenance of the new treatment system in perpetuity

The new treatment project would provide up to 10 million of the 15.7 million gallons per day of consumptive use make up water needed by agriculture during a drought. It would also help to restore 25 miles of West Branch of the river impaired by acid mine drainage.

On the other side of the equation, however, Blacklick Creek would be losing up to 10 million gallons a day of water and the alkalinity from the treated water provided by the existing Barnes and Tucker treatment plant.

Since 1993, the Blacklick Creek Watershed Association has been working to restore water quality in the watershed by developing and operating 13 restoration projects, with more being planned.

Without mitigating the removal of 10 million gallons a day of water from the Blacklick watershed, the new project could have a devastating impact on cleanup efforts in the watershed.

As part of the planning for the new project, DEP has been working with the Blacklick Creek Association to do additional projects in that watershed to make up for the positive water quality impacts the existing Barnes and Tucker treatment facility has on the stream.

Two projects have been proposed so far by DEP to treat mine water and provide the alkalinity the creek would be missing. Discharges from relief boreholes near Vintondale and the Wehrum discharge have been selected and preliminary engineering work is underway.

DEP has made a commitment to the Blacklick Creek Association that the switch of the Barnes and Tucker mine water from the Ohio to the Susquehanna basin would not be done without the completion of the complimentary projects on the Blacklick Creek to mitigate the impacts there.

Funding for the Blacklick Creek projects is proposed to come from Federal SMCRA 10 percent Set Aside funds and mining the coal assets DEP received during the Barnes and Tucker bankruptcy proceedings. Coal royalties should generate about $500,000 to $1 million a year for the next five to six years.

The Barnes and Tucker project is part of a larger DEP initiative in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to look at the potential of mine pools to provide make up water for the basin.

DEP has so far identified ten mine pools with a potential to provide make up water through the development of mine water treatment and pumping projects. The agency is now doing a study to determine the five most feasible mine pools to pursue. SRBC is seeking an additional $2.2 million in funds to look at mine water treatment and other options in order to make up the final 5.7 million gallons needed by agriculture.

DEP estimates the potential is there for a number of these mine pools to easily provide the remaining 5 to 6 million gallons per day of make up water needed by agriculture.

There also appears to be interest from entities that are required by SRBC to mitigate their consumptive use of water about the potential of mine pools to provide make up water for their needs. PPL and the City of Baltimore have already been in touch with DEP about the potential of mine pools to provide make up water. This interest is important because these partners would contribute financially to mine treatment and pumping projects providing the water.

The potential of mine water treatment projects to provide make up water in the Susquehanna or other river basins in the Commonwealth turns an environmental liability into an environmental and economic asset.

This initiative follows earlier DEP initiatives over the last eight years to promote the use of treated mine water for processing and cooling purposes, for example the Shannopin mine discharge in Greene County or the Panther Creek power plant using the Lausanne Mine Tunnel discharge in Carbon County.

Sources of polluted mine water in Pennsylvania range in size from a mine pool in Westmoreland County that contains an estimated 80 billion gallons of water and covers an area 50 miles long and 10 miles wide, to the Jeddo Discharge in Luzerne County that produces 3 million gallons an hour.

For more information on the Barnes and Tucker Project, contact Michael Brownell, SRBC, at 717-238-0425 ext. 200 or send email to: mbrownell@srbc.net or Scott Horrell, DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, at 814-472-1800 or send email to: shorrell@state.pa.us or Bob Eppley, Blacklick Creek Watershed Association, send email to: eppldr@bcwa-inc.org.

Link: Barnes & Tucker Project Fact Sheet from SRBC

3/10/2006