Ed Wytovich, Catawissa Watershed Association

Over 150 people attended the dedication for the $2 million Audenreid Mine Tunnel Discharge Treatment Project along the Catawissa Creek in Schuylkill County last weekend.

(Look for the special photo features at the end of this article.)

Ed Wytovich, Catawissa Creek Watershed Association, was joined at the dedication by Schuykill Commissioner Robert Carl, Sen. Rhoades (R-Schuylkill), Rep. Argall (R-Schuylkill) and representatives of a variety of the agencies and partners that made the project possible.

The passive treatment system, the largest in Pennsylvania and possibly the United States, will treat over 12 million gallons of water a year and will restore about 34 miles of the Catawissa Creek. It is the first time in 75 years clean water was restored to this portion of the Catawissa Creek.

The project was conceived by the Catawissa Creek Restoration Association, but accomplished by a host of partners that include: Schuylkill County Conservation District, Columbia County Conservation District, Butler Enterprises, Paragon Adventure Park, Blue Nob Rod & Gun Club, East Union Township, DEP-Pottsville District Mining Office, DEP-Bureau of Watershed Management, DEP-Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, U.S. Department of the Interior-Office of Surface Mining, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fish & Boat Commission, Hedin Environmental, Rettew Associates, Schuylkill County Board of Commissioners, Columbia County Board of Commissioners, and James T. O’Hara, Inc.

The innovative system utilizes new technologies and design features to treat the high flows of the discharge.

The discharge water is diverted into a series of three, 12 feet high and 120 feet wide, circular concrete treatment cells filled with limestone. Once inside these cells, the discharged water reacts with high calcium limestone, which raises the pH of the water and cause the metals to precipitate out of solution.

Each treatment cell contains about 4,600 tons of limestone and provides about two hours of retention time.

The system must be flushed extensively and frequently in order to manage the accumulation of aluminum hydroxide solids and keep them out of the stream. About every two hours, the treatment tanks will be flushed by a series of automatic siphons into a large settling pond to receive the aluminum precipitate. The water will then flow into a second settling pond to provide final polishing before it is returned to the creek.

Funded primarily through an EPA Section 319 Grant, the project was completed in December and has undergone its shakedown since then.

Barb Bartusik, a grandmother with her granddaughter in tow, told participants that she learned to swim in the Catawissa when she was a girl. Coming to the dedication she remembered her father said that he did not think he would live to see the Creek cleaned up. Ms. Bartusik said she thought it was a fitting tribute to her late father that the treatment system be dedicated on Father’s Day weekend

This project fulfills the promise in the motto of the Catawissa Creek Restoration Association very well—“Catawissa Creek – Soon to Be a World Class Trout Stream.”

For more information visit the Audenreid Project blog online.

Attachments: Audenreid Dedication Photo Feature - PDF

Audenreid Project Fact Sheet – PDF

Project Under Construction Photo Feature - PDF

NewsClips: Mine Drainage Treatment System Aims to Put Fish Back in Catawissa

Catawissa Creek Gets a Boost

6/23/2006