Abandoned Mine Drainage Project

This Scrubgrass Run Abandoned Mine Drainage Project was initiated by the Integrated Studies Program at Chartiers Valley High School in 1994. The students won a Three Rivers Environmental Award that year. In 1995, Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, visited the site and called it an example of hands-on work to restore the Environment. He invited the involved students to Washington DC for his press conference on the Environment.

The site was a former leaf dump owned by Scott Township. The project was designed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The original design was for a “passive treatment system” meaning no chemicals or mechanical devices were used. The drainage ponds were constructed in 1997 with monies from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, the US Office of Surface Mining, Scott Township, The Scott Conservancy and from several local contributors. The original treatment removed about 25% of the Iron Oxide/Hydroxide from the water before it entered Chartiers Creek

Because the land acreage on this site was too small for a complete passive treatment system, an additional treatment was installed in 1998. This treatment is a mechanical aeration system known as a Maelstrom Oxidizer and was installed by O Two Environmental. Funds for this installation were provided by the PADEP and the Heinz Endowments. The process speeds up the oxidation of the Iron and resulted in the removal of about 50% of the Iron Oxide/Hydroxide.

In 2003, the ponds were dredged, recontoured and lined with the help of a grant from the PADEP. Approximately 60%-70% of the Iron Oxide/Hydroxide is now removed from the ponds before the water enters Chartiers Creek. The sludge from the ponds may be reused as a pigment. Pigment made from iron oxide sludge is used on the signs posted on the fences.