GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT WITHIN HIGH VALUE TRIBUTARIES, ARE THESE COMPATIBLE?

Clay and bituminous coal were extensively mined within Eastern Appalachian synclinal basins. Marine, brackish and freshwater sediments with variable inorganic sulfur contents disturbed by surface and subsurface methods were left in various states of reclamation and recovery. Mine drainage and acid, induced weathering products plaque the region. Legacies include column banks, mine portals, shafts, highwalls, ground subsidence, barren and eroded soils, acidic seeps, springs and groundwater concentrated within synclinal basins and thousands of miles of polluted streams and rivers. Some anticlinal flanks and crests contain high value tributaries, support cold water fisheries and attract water development projects.

Basin commissions control water allocations. The PADEP and others oversee water quality, wetlands and aquatic resources challenged by growing community, industrial, non-conventional gas development and other water demands. Developing high capacity well fields hoping to avoid costly filtration while also protecting high quality watersheds appear incompatible. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission has a non-degradation rule for high-and exceptional-value tributaries </= 10 mi². Lacking site specific gauging data, 1-2-year and 1-10-year base flow statistics needed to balance recharge and extraction rates rely on USGS StreamStats regional stream gauging data. Extrapolation to local tributaries can overlook underflow losses within dipping bedrock aquifers and valley floor sediments hence, under estimating recharge.

Hydrogeologic characterization of diverse headland tributaries that unscramble natural and man-induced surface water-groundwater interactions can be costly, not assured, but critical to successful water development projects also required to honor base flow, wetland and aquatic resources. Physical and chemical monitoring data obtained from streams, springs, shallow channel and nested overburden piezometers, wells in dipping, fracture-dominated, locally faulted strata overlain by colluvial-alluvial deposits illustrate unanticipated but mitigative adverse responses to pumping. Centre, Clearfield and Westmoreland counties, PA watersheds are featured. Complexities encountered befit Don Siegel’s intellect, diverse and scientific interests.