The Schuylkill County Conservation District was recognized for winning the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for its innovative approach to treating acid mine drainage through the Audenreid Mine Tunnel in Schuylkill County.

“The Audenreid Mine Tunnel is an example of how activities from long ago can affect our environment and quality of life today,” said DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty. “Eight-five years ago, this tunnel was built to lower the groundwater level of nearby strip-mining areas. More recently, however, it was responsible for severely debilitating the water quality and killing all aquatic life. But, thanks to the unique approach by the Schuylkill County Conservation District, this creek is experiencing a comeback.”

The Audenreid Mine Tunnel accounts for 84 percent of the acid composition over Catawissa Creek’s 36-mile span. Based on numerous samplings over the past 20 years, the district determined that the average flow rate of the discharge was 8,500 gallons per minute or 12.24 million gallons a day.

This extremely high volume of acid mine drainage threatened to make treatment expensive and technically difficult.

To remediate the Audenreid Mine Tunnel discharge and to restore aquatic life to Catawissa Creek, the Schuylkill Conservation District worked with a contractor to design a passive acid mine drainage treatment system. The final innovative design has proven to treat the high discharge volumes and presence of dissolved aluminum effectively.

In the short time the system has been in operation, it has tripled the creek’s acid-neutralizing capacity, removed two-thirds of the aluminum in the mine drainage, and converted virtually all the dissolved aluminum into non-toxic precipitate. The treatment system increases the Catawissa Creek’s pH by 1.13 standard units for a distance of more than 30 miles.

Now, native brook trout are being caught in places that have not historically shown signs of aquatic life.

The Audenreid Mine Tunnel acid mine drainage remediation project is the largest passive acid mine drainage treatment system of its kind ever undertaken and successfully completed in Pennsylvania. The project was estimated to cost $2 million but it came in under budget at $1.8 million.

The Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence honors Pennsylvania businesses and organizations that undertake projects that tackle environmental problems, help build new businesses, enhance the bottom line and engage residents in a renewed commitment to investing in communities.

Applications are now available for the 2008 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence. The award is open to any Pennsylvania business, government agency, educational institution, nonprofit organization, individual or farm that has created or helped to develop a project that promotes environmental stewardship and economic development in the state.

The deadline to submit projects is October 15.

To download an application, visit the 2008 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence webpage.

NewsClip: Restored Catawissa Creek Given Recognition

Polluted Creek on the Mend

10/5/2007