By Isaac Busler, Butler Senior High School

This article originally appeared in the January 2022 Catalyst newsletter from the Butler County-based Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition.

Hello! My name is Isaac Busler, and I am a Senior at Butler Senior High School. I am currently the water monitoring intern working at BioMost, Inc.

The first job I had after accepting my internship was to install conductivity data loggers and download that data from various water sources in the Slippery Rock Creek watershed.

After downloading the water data from the loggers, I post-processed, analyzed, and prepared it for publication.

I will be uploading the information to the SRWC website in the next few months.

A map of the sample locations can be found on the last page of the newsletter.

Water samples collected in November were also sent to a lab to further analyze the quality of water from those sources (see results below).

Of the twelve locations that were tested and analyzed, Upstream Lake Arthur [Moraine State Park] clearly contained the most total suspended solids (TSS) with 19 mg/L while the remainder of the sample sites all have less than 5 mg/L.

All twelve sources have relatively good pH levels, with a high of 8.21 pH from the Slippery Rock Gage and a low of 7.12 pH from Upstream Lake Arthur.

Upstream Lake Arthur also has the highest amount of iron in the water with 1.16 mg/L, which is most likely explained by the high levels of TSS.

The other eleven locations showed iron concentrations well below 1 mg/L, with the next highest being 0.72 mg/L coming from Rock Falls and the lowest being 0.18 mg/L from Downstream Lake Arthur.

A correlation between the alkalinity and pH levels can be observed, as the higher the pH levels are the higher the alkalinity levels are and vice versa.

The highest alkalinity level recorded was 111.2 mg/L from the Wolf Creek Mouth and the lowest was 32.0 mg/L from Downstream Lake Arthur.

The Wolf Creek Mouth also has a relatively higher pH, while Upstream Lake Arthur has a relatively lower pH and helps in confirming this correlation.

In regard to sulfate (SO4), which indicates an influence from mining, Boyers has the most with 186.3 mg/L and Downstream Lake Arthur has the least with 32 mg/L.

The data also shows that the levels of manganese and aluminum roughly follow the same pattern concerning iron. The more iron in the water, the higher the levels of manganese and aluminum are in those same locations and vice versa with a smaller concentration of iron.

Boyers also has the highest specific conductivity with 548 µS/cm and Downstream Lake Arthur has the lowest with 199 µS/cm.

Overall, the water quality snapshot shows that the passive treatment systems in the headwaters of Slippery Rock Creek continue to effectively treat the mine drainage with buffered streams and low levels of metals.

[Click Here to review the chart of results.]

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates.

NewsClip:

-- ScrantonT Editorial: Use Federal Cash To Cleanup Abandoned Mine Polluted Waterways

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-- DEP 2022 Water Quality Reports Shows 27,886 Miles Of Streams With Impaired Water Quality In PA (33%) - An Increase From 25,468 In 2020

-- Two Bipartisan Bills Just Sitting In Senate Waiting To Address Record Number Of Water Quality Impaired Streams Reported In 2022

-- Foundation For Pennsylvania Watersheds Sets Spring, Fall Grant Application Deadlines

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission: New Fee Incentives For Use Of Abandoned Mine Impacted Water

[Posted: January 14, 2022]

1/17/2022