Work to Treat Mine Tunnel Water Proceeds
Posted on Thursday, 14 July 2005 (10:27:03) EDT by admin
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Source: MARK KATCHUR - The Standard-Speaker
USA - Three underground tanks - part of a system that will treat polluted water rushing out of the Audenreid mine tunnel - could be set in place this week. About 1,000 feet of piping must still be laid to connect the mouth of the tunnel to the tanks, which will help remove aluminum from the highly acidic water.
The treatment system will catch the water before it flows into Catawissa Creek, where the aluminum now makes 36 of 41 miles unsuitable for fish, the flies they eat and other aquatic life.
One member of the Catawissa Creek Restoration Association is pushing for the project's engineer and contractor to meet a December deadline to complete work on the system.
Jim Gotta has monitored progress since construction began in April. A member of the association's oversight committee, he visits the area - about two-and-a-half miles east of Sheppton - three times a week, then reports back to other association members.
Gotta even put together a papier-mache model of the treatment system, which he carried in the back of his van on a trip to the tunnel last week. He uses it to show others how the process will work.
"We're proud of what we're doing," Gotta said.
The association is one of a half-dozen groups that have joined together to clean the 8,500 gallons of water that, every minute, flows from the Audenreid mine tunnel, which accounts for about 85 percent of Catawissa Creek's pollutants.
One of the partners, the Schuylkill County Conservation District, solicited bids on a contract to build the treatment system earlier this year.
However, the lowest bid, submitted by contractor James T. O'Hara of Moscow, was $2.2 million, about $1 million higher than what the Catawissa Creek Restoration Association had expected.
"Luckily, we were able to locate funds to cover the rest of the cost," Gotta said.
The contract stipulates that work must be completed by December.
"If it's not done by then, it's not the end-all," Gotta said. "I think it can happen (by December), but the work activity has to increase to make it happen."
Much excavation work is yet to be done, Gotta said. Because the system is gravity-fed, the tanks must be at least 4 feet below the level of the tunnel.
But last week, some areas in front of the tunnel where the pipes will be laid were still considerably higher than the mouth, as much as 20 feet in spots, Gotta estimated. Crews must place a basin at the mouth to collect water and divert it into three pipes leading to the tanks.
About 1,000 feet away, base rock set in circles showed where the three tanks - each 120 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep - will be built.
Concrete could be poured this week, weather permitting. Heavy rains halted work at the site Thursday and Friday, and Gotta is worried more storms could cause further delays.
The pipes from the tunnel leading to the tanks will actually cross underneath Catawissa Creek, as well as a gas pipeline.
When ready, the tanks will contain baseball-sized limestone, which will separate aluminum from the water and increase its pH level to around 7, or neutral, over a two-hour period. A stream's pH must be around 5.5 for brook trout to survive.
When water reaches the top of the tanks, a drain valve will trigger, releasing the water into a settling pond where aluminum will drop out, before it is redirected to Catawissa Creek.
The treatment system is passive, meaning that little or no human involvement will be necessary.
"The project's going to get done - there's no question about that - and the system will work," Gotta said.
Bloomsburg University scientists plan to visit the site before and after the tunnel discharge is treated, to see how wildlife is affected.
Trout swim and feed in a mountain stream near the Audenreid mine tunnel until it meets the Catawissa Creek.
The tunnel runs three miles through the mountainside that straddles the Luzerne/Schuylkill County border.
It was constructed 85 years ago to lower the groundwater level of the Jeanesville mine basin, which lies between McAdoo and Hazleton.
Workers from the state Department of Environmental Protection collapsed the mouth several years ago for safety reasons, but water still finds its way through.
It seemingly appears from nowhere in a swirling pool near where the tunnel opening once was. Just feet from the discharge, however, it rushes forcefully downhill across rocks in the bed it carved out. Last week, following heavy rains, the flow was especially heavy.
The tunnel and soon-to-be nearby treatment system is on land owned by Butler Enterprises and leased to Paragon Adventure Park, a 4,000-acre facility for all-terrain vehicles.
A road leading to the site from near Route 924 passes through Blue Nob Rod and Gun Club property.
Along that road is the Green Mountain mine tunnel, which along with the Oneida #3 tunnel in Eagle Rock, releases water into Catawissa Creek and contributes to its pollution. The Catawissa Creek Restoration Association is seeking funds to treat water from the minor discharges.
A few years back, Gotta helped oversee construction of a $250,000 system that treats polluted water from the Oneida #1 mine tunnel, also in the Eagle Rock development where he lives.
The system worked fine until the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in the fall of 2003 wiped out an earthen dam built to redirect water from the tunnel.
For the Audenreid mine tunnel work, the association and its partners had secured $1.4 million through the state's Growing Greener program and the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water initiative.
Rettew Associates is the engineer on the project. Also involved is the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, which is responsible for implementing a plan for the 152-square-mile Catawissa Creek Watershed.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Susquehanna River Basin Commission will help monitor water quality and assist with educational and outreach activities.
Catawissa Creek begins at the southernmost tip of Luzerne County and flows for five miles before it reaches the Audenreid mine tunnel.
It then continues on for 36 miles through northern Schuylkill County and Columbia County before emptying into the Susquehanna River.
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