Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) originates when water and air create a chemical reaction that leaches out iron, aluminum and other metals from underground rock formations in voids left from abandoned coal mines. This water can also contain acidity. The water that exits the underground location and enters into a waterway then coats the stream bottom which smothers aquatic life and the acidity can directly kill all forms of aquatic life including fish.
Somerset County has suffered from this historic pollution since the beginning of the 20th Century which has rendered much of the county’s water unusable for business, industry and recreation.
That environmental impairment, which also severely limits economic opportunities as well, began to be addressed in the late 1980’s when forward thinking, enlightened and motivated natural resource conservation volunteers and professionals began to take a closer look at the issue and the new technology that was being developed at the time. In 1991 Somerset Conservation District Chairman Dave Mankamyer, along with Cambria County Conservation District Chairman W. R. Dick Rossman, took U. S. Congressman John Murtha of Johnstown on a tour of the region’s AMD impaired waterways. They presented him a plan created by Southern Alleghenies Resource Conservation and Development (RC & D) Council Coordinator Ron Donlan, to clean up the AMD in the upper Conemaugh River watershed. Congressman Murtha then called a meeting of county, state and federal officials to discuss the plan and determine how it could be implemented. That led to the formation of the Stonycreek-Conemaugh River Improvement Project (SCRIP) with the conservation districts of Cambria and Somerset Counties as the lead agencies to develop the public – private partnerships to coordinate the cleanup efforts.
In 1992 SCRIP tested the new technology of passive wetland treatment systems for AMD abatement at the Rock Tunnel AMD discharge on the South Fork of Bens Creek in Somerset County. The success of this project provided the empowerment to move to larger initiatives.
In 1993 the Mountain Laurel Chapter of Trout unlimited sponsored a public meeting in Hooversville to announce SCRIP’s proposed 5 million dollar Oven Run AMD abatement project on the Stonycreek River.
In 1995 the first Oven Run AMD passive treatment system, known as Site D or Oaks Trail, was constructed on property secured by the newly formed Somerset County Conservancy, near Kantner along the Stonycreek River. In succeeding years Oven Run Sites A, F ( Hawk View), E and B were funded and constructed nearby through partnership, administration, design and funding provided by the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM), PA Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP), Bureau of Abandoned Mine Drainage, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Southern Alleghenies R C and D and Conservancy and the Somerset Conservation District. The impact of the systems significantly reduced iron loading and acidity in the Stonycreek River, increased alkalinity levels and turned the Stonycreek from net acidic to net alkaline.
In 2007 the Somerset Conservation District completed the Stonycreek River Watershed Reassement Project to document the improved water quality. It was determined by the data gathered that aquatic life had significantly improved and miles of fishery, including a still increasing population of wild trout, had been restored in the Stonycreek River watershed. In addition, the creation of volunteer watershed organizations such as the Shade Creek Watershed association, Wells Creek Watershed Association, Paint Creek Regional Watershed Association initiated additional AMD treatment systems in sub watersheds of the Stonycreek River. A similar locally driven initiative created the implementation of the Jenners and Boswell Passive Treatment systems in the Quemahoning Creek watershed and produced yet more positive water quality improvements. There are currently 24 AMD treatment systems in the 486 square mile Stonycreek River watershed.
The cumulative result of all these restoration efforts enabled the Stonycreek River to be named River of the Year in Pennsylvania in 2012. It has also spurred an ever increasing eco-tourism industry and created a state and nationally recognized destination point for water based recreation in the Cambria-Somerset region.
In 2017 the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy collected data and produced a report entitled the State of the Kiski-Conemaugh River Watershed and found that the Stonycreek River had maintained its improved water quality levels, but had not progressed beyond that point.
In the 1990’s the Somerset Conservation District accepted the legal responsibility for the perpetual operation and maintenance of 4 of the 5 Oven Run treatment systems. Through that responsibility the District documented that the systems had begun to reach their 20 year effective life expectancy and had begun to fail. In 2019 through the ability of the District to document and sound the alarm the federal OSM, PA DEP along with Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds secured and provided the District with the funding to administer, design, contract and oversee the reconstruction of the systems. Over the next 4 years the District, along with the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation District’s Technical Assistance Group, completely reconstructed and improved the systems. The PADEP, which is responsible for Oven Run Site B, also reconstructed that system.
The result, which has been documented by water sampling data collected by InnoH20, is more water is now being treated and more AMD contamination is are being removed as well as more alkalinity being added than previously had occurred creating yet another positive surge in the Stonycreek River’s water quality.
The four systems the District is responsible for now produce 1.5 billion gallons of clean water every year and are essential infrastructure that have created positive documented recreational and economic impacts for the entire region.
The District has also assumed the operation and maintenance of five more “orphan” AMD treatment systems in the Stonycreek River watershed. The nine systems alone manufacture over 3 billion gallons of clean water every year.
In addition to the extensive AMD abatement efforts the District has pursued in the Stonycreek River watershed, the District also provides support and technical assistance for the ongoing AMD initiatives of watershed groups and non- profits. The District has also been and continues to be a primary partner, along with the Casselman River Watershed Association and the Somerset County Conservancy and others, in the AMD abatement efforts at Coal Run in the Casselman River watershed.