A LOOK AT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SCARLIFT 15 ACID MINE DRAINAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM ON DISCHARGE INTO SHAMOKIN CREEK NEAR RANSHAW (NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY), PA

In Pennsylvania nearly 80% of all streams are impaired (PADEP, 2010), indicating a need of stream restoration and pollution abatement throughout the state. Shamokin Creek has been plagued with low pH and high concentrations of iron, aluminum and manganese, largely due to abandoned mine drainage (AMD) throughout the area. In 2009, the Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance (SCRA), supported by the Northumberland County Conservation District (NCCD), installed a gravity fed vertical flow AMD treatment system at the Scarlift 15 reclamation site near Ranshaw, PA. The purpose of the system was to raise the pH and alkalinity of, and remove dissolved iron and sulfate from, some portion of the mine discharge thereby reducing the AMD impact on Shamokin Creek. Samples and in situ data were collected from 13 sites: two in Shamokin Creek, one above the mine discharge and one below the treatment system; one from the AMD inflow; one at the outflow from the entire system; and the rest distributed through the 4 ponds and 4 vertical flow pipes in the system. Water from the vertical flow pipes, having gone through the limestone and compost components of the treatment ponds, showed increased pH and alkalinity as well as decreased aluminum and iron concentrations. We conclude that the system is still working properly with regard to those parameters. Our assessment of sulfate removal is delayed, pending repair of instrumentation. This project was undertaken as part of an ongoing course-embedded research/service opportunity to provide the SCRA and the NCCD a periodic evaluation of the treatment system’s effectiveness.