Water Quality Snapshot of Passive Treatment Systems

By Cliff Denholm, Stream Restoration, Inc.
(Stream Restoration Inc. (SRI) is a non-profit organization whose mission focuses on the restoration of streams impacted by abandoned coal mine drainage. SRI is located in Mars, PA.)

As many of you may already be aware, a partnership effort has been organized to conduct two water quality snapshots of all the publicly-funded passive treatment systems located within Pennsylvania. This snapshot will consist of collecting water samples for laboratory analysis as well as measuring selected field parameters. The samples will be collected for the raw untreated AMD, the final effluent of the passive system, and the influent and effluent of every alkalinity-generating component such as ALDs, VFPs, SAPS, etc., as feasible.

The first snapshot is planned to take place over the next couple of months (August and September 2009). The second snapshot is planned to take place in late winter/early spring (March, April, May 2010). The monitoring will be conducted by a team consisting of individuals from PA DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR), Stream Team, PA Senior Environmental Corps, Mill Creek Coalition, Babb Creek Watershed Association, Broadtop Township, and Stream Restoration Incorporated. Funding for the snapshot is through a PA DEP Growing Greener Grant obtained by the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR).

Data from the snapshot will be made publicly available via Datashed http://www.datashed.org/ which is a free, web-based database designed to assist in the management of data related to passive treatment systems and stream monitoring for watershed groups, nonprofits, academia, government agencies and anyone else interested in passive treatment. In addition to the water monitoring data from this snapshot event, information regarding these passive systems, which has been collected by PA DEP BAMR over the last year including existing water quality data, site schematics, as-builts, information forms, etc. will be uploaded to Datashed. An account is not necessary to view any of this data; however, if you would like to be able to upload your own data, documents, and information you can get an account very easily by contacting Cliff Denholm or Shaun Busler at Stream Restoration Inc. 724-776-0161.
We have tried to include as many email addresses of watershed organizations as we could however there were many that we could not find. So please feel free to forward this announcement to watershed groups that you know.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this sampling event please contact Cliff Denholm at Stream Restoration Incorporated. Telephone: 724-776-0161, Email:
sri@streamrestorationinc.org