Statewide Water Sampling Underway At 300 Passive Mine Drainage Treatment Systems In PA

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, watershed groups, nonprofits, and other volunteers across Pennsylvania are currently out in the field collecting water samples to complete the 2020 Statewide Passive Treatment Snapshot.

The water sampling event is organized by Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition participant Cliff Denholm of the nonprofit Stream Restoration Incorporated as part of their Passive Treatment Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Technical Assistance Program funded by DEP’s Growing Greener Program. 

The event, which began in May, has the goal of sampling 300 or more passive treatment systems across Pennsylvania and is being completed by over 35 different organizations who are volunteering their time. 

This is the 6th Snapshot Event that SRI has organized. Other events were conducted in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2018. 

Due to a lack of available funding, for many watershed groups, these Snapshot events are the only opportunity to have water samples of their treatment systems analyzed by professional laboratories. 

The data collected during the Snapshot are then uploaded to Datashed (www.datashed.org) for anyone with internet access to view. 

The Snapshot events are also utilized to help identify if systems require any maintenance or need to be rebuilt.

Organizations that have volunteered to help collect samples or provide data include: Allegheny County Conservation District; Altoona Water Authority; Armstrong County Conservation District; AQUA Pennsylvania; Babb Creek Watershed Association; BioMost, Inc; Blacklick Creek Watershed Association; Broad Top Township; Cambria County Conservation District; Clearfield Creek Watershed Association; Clearfield County Conservation District; Clinton County Conservation District; Dauphin County Conservation District; Elk County Conservation District; Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR); Jefferson County Conservation District; Hedin Environmental; Huntingdon County Conservation District; Conemaugh Valley Conservancy Stream Team; Mill Creek Coalition; DEP; Indiana County Conservation District; Loyalhanna Watershed Association; Montour Run Watershed Association; Moshannon Creek Watershed Association; Mountain Watershed Association; Northumberland County Conservation District; Saint Francis University; Saint Vincent College; Sewickley Creek Watershed Association; Shamokin Creek Watershed Association; Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition; Stream Restoration Incorporated; Schuylkill County Conservation District; Schuylkill Headwaters Association; Trout Unlimited; and the Wells Creek Watershed Association.

Besides organizing the snapshot, Cliff has also been out collecting samples of the SRWC sites. Keep an eye out on Facebook and in our Catalyst newsletter (Click Here to sign up for your own copy) to get an update about all our treatment systems. 

[How Clean Is Your Stream?

[DEP’s Interactive Report Viewer allows you to zoom in on your own stream or watershed to find out how clean your stream is or if it has impaired water quality using the latest information in the draft 2020 Water Quality Report.]

(Photo: Saint Vincent College students Tanner DeTesta and Olivia Knepp sampling the outflow of the Lowber treatment system in Westmoreland County.)

(Reprinted from the July Catalyst newsletter from the Butler County-based Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)

Related Articles:

-- Newest Passive Mine Drainage Treatment System Performing Well In Butler County

-- Bay Journal: Fix For PA's Sewage Overflow Pollution - Worst In U.S. - Neither Quick Nor Easy

[Posted: July 20, 2020]  PA Environment Digest