INVESTIGATION OF KLINE’S CREEK SECTION OF THE ROARING CREEK WATERSHED

We assessed water chemistry of the Kline’s Reservoir section of the Roaring Creek Watershed, located in Columbia County, PA. This reservoir is used as a high water quality source for the local area and will be used in comparison to nearby studies of acid mine drainage chemistry and remediation effectiveness. It sits in a monoclinal structure between Big Mountain and Little Mountain and is underlain by impermeable Mauch Chunk Formation consisting of red shales and clays. On the southern side of Big Mountain is the Middle Anthracite field of PA. The reservoir was drained in 1999 for reconstruction of the dam and recently re-flooded. Our purpose was to analyze the chemistry of this reservoir. Kline’s Reservoir was sampled using duplicate samples along three transects of three stations each, for a total of nine sampling locations. Stations were located using GPS. Average pH of the samples was 4.66, and surface temperature was 10.5°C. On site dissolved oxygen was 6.2 mg/L, hardness (total) averaged 10.8 mg/L as CaCO₃, and alkalinity ranged from 1.10 to 1.65 mg/L, as measured in the field. Samples were analyzed using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer for Fe, Hg, Zn, Cu, and Pb. Iron and zinc were the only metals found above detectable limits (0.38ppm for iron and 8.32ppm for zinc) and were found solely at the transect closest to PA Route 42. Results were within EPA water quality standards.