PREPARING FOR MARCELLUS DRILLING: 1. EXISTING WATER QUALITY AT MUD LAKE AND ADJACENT WETLAND, CRYSTAL LAKE CAMPS, LYCOMING/SULLIVAN COUNTY, PA

Crystal Lake Camps is a summer camp and cross-country ski destination in the Endless Mountain region near Hughesville, PA. The resort consists of close to a thousand acres of forest land and encloses three lakes: Mud Lake, Crystal Lake and Wild Rice Lake, connected by Bear Creek which flows from the top of Allegheny Ridge eventually into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The owner, concerned about potential negative impacts on the watershed due to Marcellus Shale development on neighboring properties, recruited us to investigate the water quality of Crystal Lake and associated waterways. A baseline study for the water quality of the wetland area at Crystal Lake was carried out the weekend of 2-3 October 2010. An onsite assessment of pH, turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, alkalinity, and acidity was conducted for nine sampling sites chosen to include all key environments of the Mud Lake and the adjacent wetland area. Triplicate samples of both filtered and unfiltered water from each site were acidified, chilled and transported to the lab for later analysis of selected metals. An additional set of triplicate non-acidified, filtered samples from each site was collected, chilled, then frozen immediately upon returning from the field, and thawed just before analysis of selected anions. Chemistry of the waters in the wetland area were typical of the chemistries found in non-impacted Northern Pennsylvania sphagnum-sedge-leatherleaf wetlands, with fairly low pH (5-5.5), low alkalinity (0-3.9 mg/L as CaCO3), and low conductivity (most ca. 20 µS/cm).